For the Maiden
by ExtremeSaucicity
Summary: The day started off simply enough, with the plan to hang out with his best guy bro and eat some giant turkey legs at the Renaissance Faire. Then things sorta got out of hand. Like, 'suddenly being put in an actual suit of armor and having to win an entire tournament on behalf of his song writing partner's honor' out of hand.
1. The Wager

So, uh, Teresa wanted the gang hanging out at Ren Fest for her birthday. Which, I guess, could have been cute and then I RUINED EVERYTHING. And apparently, I do not know the meaning of brevity because this is waaaay too long.

TERESA. I AM SORRY IF THIS DOES NOT PLEASE YOU. PROMISE ME WE'LL STILL HANG OUT ON YOUR BIRTHDAY, OKAY? Sorry I couldn't afford something useful like a new Febreze bottle or a sword scabbard—just the scabbard, no sword—or a pair of Birkenstock sandals or even a jar of liquefied monkey innards. Look, I know, I know, I come up with the _greatest_ gift ideas, but all I could afford was this measly fic.

Disclaimer: Two things: One, I made up a ton of stuff for the jousting tournament, but just… shh, let it go, okay? Two, if you really think I own these two charming as fuck teenagers, then you're delusional.

* * *

Austin sat backwards on the bench at the picnic table, his back pressed into the edge, an elbow hanging lazily of the corner, as he tore a piece a giant meat chunk off a turkey leg. "Dude, these are the best," he said, his words muffled due to a mouthful of turkey. He rolled his head back and gave a happy hum.

Dez, sitting correctly at the table beside him, nodded and sank his teeth into his own comically large edible stick of deliciousness. "Ren Fest, man. _So_ awesome."

Ah, the Renaissance Faire. Austin could barely contain his excitement as he casually people watched from his seat, still happily munching away.

The area was filled to the brim with people in medieval garb bustling about; even he and Dez had gotten into the spirit of things and were wearing over-sized tunics with tight black pants. Shops and stalls were set up all around, offering anything from trinkets to clothes to jewelry to food, with their owners shouting and hollering for the peoples' attention to come inside and have a look. The smells from all the different food vendors wafted through the air and tickled Austin's nose despite the turkey leg in hand. Further down the way, he knew there was a large entertainment center set up, with jousting and even some play-acting.

And, of course, the girls dressed in full renaissance dress, Austin noted appreciatively as he eyed a girl walking by in a slimming corset with a flowing gown. But today wasn't about girls, he quickly reminded himself as he caught sight of Dez out of the corner of his eye. Today was about him and his best bro hanging out and eating some turkey legs in a fake medieval setting and doing medieval-y things.

But no maces. Not after last year.

"Hello! Earth to Moon!" Dez shouted into Austin's ear before snickering at his own joke. "Geddit? _Earth to Moon? _It's funny because your last name is _Moon,_" he slapped his own knee,_ "_God, I'm hilarious."

Austin frowned and rolled his eyes. "Dez, that joke stopped being funny when we were, like, eight."

Dez stopped his snickering and eyed Austin reproachfully. "Not for me."

The blond rolled his eyes before turning his attention to his friend. "Sorry for spacing, I was just thinking about all the cool things we'll get to do today."

Dez appeared thoughtful for a long moment before shooting off a barrage of questions. "Hit all the shops and buy dumb souvenirs?"

"Yep."

"We're gonna eat everything that comes on a stick?"

"Hell yeah!"

"See the jousting tournament?"

"Dude, _of course._"

"Talk in olde English?" Dez asked in an exaggerated accent.

Austin wrinkled his nose. "Can we not do that one?"

Dez deflated a little. "Okay, fine," he conceded, returning to his normal tone. And then in a quiet, bitter voice, he said, "All that practice for nothing."

"Sorry, buddy. I just hate using it because of those commercials with my parents," he apologized with a wince.

Dez waved him off, saying, "It's alright." And then he brightened. "How about the ma—?"

"_Not after last year_," Austin said; well aware of what was on the tip of his friend's tongue.

The redhead did a jerky dance move of frustration and sighed. "_Fine_."

Austin gave him apologetic look. "I'll let you pick first. What do you wanna do?" he asked before taking another bite of his turkey leg.

"We should—" and then Dez stopped mid-sentence, his eyes straying from Austin's to squint at something over the blond's shoulder.

Austin blinked and waved a hand in front of the redhead's face. "Yo, Dez! What is it?"

Dez suddenly grinned and inclined his head in the direction of what was currently holding his attention. "Dude, there's a totally cute girl over there."

Austin frowned and crossed his arms. "No way, man. Today's our Bro Day, remember? Duderuses before uteruses." He shook his head. "You can't talk to her."

Dez's grin turned sly and he shook his head slowly. "Not for me. She's, uh, more your type."

The blond couldn't help it; he perked up a bit at that. "Really?" he asked, clearly interested but then he remembered their Bro Day and shook his head again, much more stubbornly. "Wait, I'm not interested, Dez. I came here to hang out with you, not meet girls."

"I think you should talk to her."

He rolled his eyes. "No way. Knowing you, it'll be another Surfer Billl incident."

"I said I was sorry about that," he said, wincing at his feeble apology. "Dude, just go talk to her!"

Austin eyed him suspiciously. "Why are you pushing this?"

Dez placed a hand to his chest self-importantly. "Because I am the Love Whisperer—"

"That's still not true," Austin interrupted in deadpan.

The self-proclaimed Love Whisperer continued unwaveringly, "—and as thus, I am on a constant Love Crusade—"

"What does that even _mean?_" Austin asked, baffled.

"—where I am always on the look-out for compatible partners—"

"I'm supposed to believe that 'Love Whisperer' is synonymous with 'Cupid' now?"

"—that I know will be a match made in—"

"If I go over there and get her number, will you shut up about the Love Whispering thing for, like, a month?" Austin said, just as deadpan as before.

Dez brightened. "Yes!" he said, holding up two thumbs in promise.

The blond sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "What's she look like?"

"Cute, in a scarlet and gold dress with flowers in her hair," Dez supplied, a spark of mischief apparent in his eyes. Austin didn't like it, but he couldn't help the small sense of intrigue he felt from the description of the dress alone.

Austin handed his friend his turkey leg and stood up. "Yeah, okay. I'll be right back," he muttered as he turned around and scanned the area for such a dress. A few yards to the right, a small petite form in a scarlet dress was standing facing away from him, red daisies adorning the crown of her head.

He frowned, that was two out of three, but where was the gold?

But suddenly, she gestured with her hand and the long sleeves that hung from her forearms flashed gold inserts and he grinned, making his way to the girl. It was still hard to make out any details other than her short stature and thin form, not to mention she had yet to turn around. From here, he could tell that the back of her dress was cinched with ribboning detail. Her dark brunette hair was tossed over the front of her shoulder, but he could still see that it was long, cascading down to the middle of her waist in tousled waves, with more flowers carefully woven throughout her side ponytail.

She definitely had nice hair, he admitted reluctantly but he still wasn't really up for flirting with anybody. Hadn't for a while, if he was being perfectly honestly. A flash of his pretty song writing partner's face reminded him just exactly why and his stomach nearly churned at the prospect of attempting to make small talk with this complete stranger, cute or not.

But it was too late and he was already tapping on her shoulder for her attention, a horrid pick-up line falling from his lips. "Hey, so I couldn't help but notice—"

The girl whirled around to face him, eyes lighting up in recognition, and she called in a chipper voice, "Oh, hey, Austin!"

Austin stopped, stunned, as he took in the sight of the girl currently occupying his thoughts beaming up at him. "Uh—Ally?" he stuttered, wondering if he had somehow manifested her out of sheer mind power. "Wuh—what are you doing here?"

She gave him an odd look, tilting her head to the side and raising an eyebrow. "Hanging out at the Renaissance Faire, silly," she answered with a light laugh. "Trish is waitressing at one of pubs and I decided to come hang out and visit her for a while."

"Oh," Austin said, continuing to stare in dumbfounded shock as he gave her a not too subtle onceover.

Now that Ally had turned to the front, he could see that the scarlet portion of the dress was cinched in front of her chest with ribboning that matched the back. The color gold made up the body of her dress and most of the skirt in the front, as well as being sewn into the inside of her long red sleeves. It wasn't exactly a corset, but with a small, modest hint of cleavage and a tight, cinched waist, he wasn't complaining. Not to mention, she looked adorable and pretty with the flowers in her hair.

Well, Dez hadn't been completely off when he said she was his type, he realized wryly.

And then he quickly snapped his eyes back up to meet hers. "You look really nice, Ally," he complimented with a slow smile as he willed his blush to go away.

Her already rosy cheeks flushed another shade or two at his compliment. "Thanks, Austin." She smiled bashfully. She took a second to study his own outfit. "You look good in your tunic," she returned, her gaze jumping back up to meet his eyes.

He thanked her and then scratched his head as he regarded her once more. "So I didn't know you were into Ren Fest." He smirked a little. "I especially didn't know you were into it enough to dress up."

"I don't go every year, but it's fun to eat some of the food and look through the souvenir shops." Ally shrugged and flicked her skirt. "And, well, who doesn't love period dresses?" she laughed. "Trish was able to sneak this out of the costume department for all the workers so I could borrow it for the weekend. I'm pretty excited to be wearing it, though," she gushed as she swished her skirt a little.

He reached out and fingered a lock of her hair. "Also, I don't remember your hair being this long," he chuckled.

She looked a bit sheepish. "Extensions for the day." She looked a bit nervous and tugged at a lock. "It's not too much, is it? With the flowers and everything?"

With an emphatic shake of his head, his hands reached up and fiddled with a red daisy by her temple, weaving it back into her hair so it wouldn't fall out. "No way," he said, grinning with approval.

She gave him a soft murmur of thanks, trying not to blush, not noticing that his fingers were lingering in her hair for longer than what was strictly necessary. She cleared her throat when his hands fell away and said, "Anyway, I didn't know you were going to be here, either." She tilted her head to the side, curious. "Are you here with Dez?"

Austin nodded. "Yeah, I am," he said. He quickly realized his annoyance with Dez for trying to trick him into hitting on Ally. He turned around and saw Dez with a wicked grin and a mischievous glint in his eye. And then he had the _gall _to wave at him, all friendly and innocent.

He seemed to be mouthing the words '_love match_' at him while wiggling his eyebrows.

Austin swiftly turned back to Ally and jumped in her line of sight so she wouldn't see Dez mouthing ridiculous things at them. "Anyway! What are you doing standing here all by yourself?" he asked, desperate to change the subject.

She blinked in confusion but brushed it off, attributing his weirdness to his small attention span. "I was going to shop around for a bit while I waited for Trish to go on break, but I keep getting stopped and asked for directions." She sighed resignedly. "I think it's because I helped Trish wait on some tables earlier so the same customers think I work here," she said with a hopeless shrug.

He couldn't help but chuckle at their mutual friend's typical antics. "Well, do you want to hang out with me and Dez while we wait for Trish's break?" he offered.

Austin might have been excited for a bro day between him and Dez, but after all that 'love match' nonsense, it's Dez's own damn fault that he'd be third-wheeling now.

Not that he and Ally were on a date or anything. Just, you know… yeah.

The blond teen shook his head to clear it of its ridiculous thoughts and grinned affectionately at Ally. "It'll be fun and Dez won't mind. So what do you say?"

She returned his grin and he felt his stomach do a flop—pfft, like he'd have _butterflies_—as she said, "I'd love that."

If at all possible, Austin's already sunny demeanor brightened even more. "Great!" And then he offered her his arm with a charming little, "M'lady," to which Ally replied with a curtsey and a, "M'lord" before taking his arm.

Their laughs mingled with each other's as they made their way to Dez.

* * *

And then they hung out for the next half hour or so, exploring the shops, watching some of the performers do tricks, and snacked on some pastries.

Dez alternated between disappearing off to give them some alone time—which Austin appreciated—and being the _most annoying cockblock of all time_—which Austin appreciated not at all.

For instance, he had meandered off somewhere so Austin and Ally could peruse a shop selling handmade jewelry on their own. It didn't take long for him to notice that her eye kept wandering back to a simple necklace consisting of tiny, bright red gemstones on a delicate gold chain. It took a while but after some teasing and encouragement, Austin finally convinced her to at least try it on. Ally had shyly turned her back to him, lifting her hair off her neck and shoulders so he could help put it on her. His fingers brushed along her skin and he was in the middle of doing the clasp around her neck when Dez had picked that precise moment to show up out of nowhere, blaring a horn in their ears. Austin did one of his girlish shrieks and accidentally fumbled with the necklace around Ally's throat to the point of dropping it. And of course it landed awkwardly in her cleavage which she then had to fish out while glaring half-heartedly at Dez, who the decency to look ashamed, at the very least.

Not too long after that incident, Dez had decided to take some impromptu juggling lessons from a street performer dressed as a court jester, so Austin and Ally had decided to grab a snack, some dessert tarts to satisfy their sweet tooths. Hers being fruit-filled, his being chocolate. They were sitting across from one another, enjoying their pastries when Austin asked her if she wanted a bite. She grinned and nodded and Austin lifted the sweet halfway up to her lips when a lanky body plunked itself onto Ally's bench. Seconds later, Dez's voice loudly proclaimed his starvation before thanking Austin around a mouthful of _his_ chocolate tart that should have been Ally's. It all happened so fast. One minute, he's looking into Ally's beautiful brown eyes and the next; he's looking at Dez's crumb and chocolate-covered grubby cheeks. And before Ally could even begin to protest, Dez had taken a bite of her fruit tart as well, declaring it scrumptious. The songwriting team had merely sighed exasperatedly and offered the redhead the rest of their tarts in equally defeated tones.

And then at one point, while walking side by side, the back of their hands kept brushing up against one another. Austin had stilled his breath, ready to grab her hand as nonchalantly as possible because really, it was the _perfect_ opportunity. But on the off chance that she gave him any weird looks, he would just convince her that it was the best way to keep their hands from bumping. See? He even had an excuse. Look at how smooth he can be! Alas, his fingertips hadn't even made contact with Ally's smaller, softer hand before he saw Dez doing something out of his peripheral vision. And suddenly, he was off in a sprint, yelling at Dez to _stay the hell away from the goddamn maces_.

Needless to say, it was getting kind of exhausting. So he was almost relieved when Ally had piped up that Trish should be going on break soon and they should start making their way to the medieval themed pub where she was working, The Sea Hag's Shanty.

(Outside the tiny, crude, tent-like building, Dez nodded solemnly and said, "Aye, she be a shanty, alright," before walking in. Austin and Ally just shared a silent look before following in after.)

Austin sighed and slumped into his chair with a dull thud, Dez dropping just as gracelessly into the seat opposite him.

"Sooo," Dez sang-songed as he shook his head back and forth in a silly little move, "How are things going with Ally?"

The blond shot him the driest look he could manage. "Fantastic," he replied, his sarcastic tone pairing excellently with his expression. "You popping up out of nowhere every single time we get a minute alone has really helped, too."

"Oh, yeah." Dez gave a wise nod. "It's because I'm the Love Whisperer," he said as he leaned into his chair and folded his hands behind the back of his head in an overly confident fashion.

Austin stared at him in disbelief, unable to comprehend how his friend could seriously say that with a straight face. But then he shook his head and growled. "Hey, you said you'd knock it off about that Love Whispering crap."

Dez snorted and rolled his eyes. "You didn't get her number so it doesn't count."

"I already _have_ Ally's number," he pointed out with a frown. "I wasn't going to ask her for it again."

"Then I'm not going to stop preaching about my destiny," he said without the slightest trace of humor.

Austin's stare of disbelief came back full force and he sputtered, "Did you—what are you even—? Dez, that's not—_what destiny?_"

Austin was saved from further madness as Trish finally appeared, making a show of groaning and throwing herself into a chair. "Oh my _gawd_," she said, her face contorting with annoyance, "I've had to talk in a dumb accent all damn day because according to my boss, 'it makes the customers happy'." She rolled her eyes in a spectacular fashion. "They should be happy enough that I'm not dumping their goddamn ale over their heads," she muttered under her breath.

The blond held back a wry chuckle. "Good to see you, too, Trish."

"Of course it is." She waved a hand back and forth lazily, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. "I'm delightful." She pointed at her face, devoid of all emotion. "See how delightful I am?"

This time, Austin did chuckle but then he realized a missing presence. "Hey, didn't Ally come and get you? Where is she?" he asked.

"Oh, she's putting in an order for some snacks and drinks for us. It shouldn't be long," Trish said. She pointed to the counter and he flicked his gaze over, seeing her talking to the person behind the counter. He made a tiny noise of confirmation and settled back into his seat. He noticed her knowing grin and he nearly opened his mouth to ask what that look was for, but she immediately cleared her throat and changed the subject. "So, you idiots having a good time at Ren Fest?" she asked, the barest hint of affection lacing her question as she looked from him to Dez.

Examples of Dez's stellar timing flashed through Austin's mind and he gave her what looked to be a painfully tight grin. "The best." Trish raised an eyebrow at his expression but Dez piped up with his own two cents before she could question the singer.

"I learned how to juggle from a court jester," Dez said in a regal tone. He placed his forearm on the table to lean forward gracefully.

Trish eyed him in disdain for a long moment. "Yeah," she started slowly, "you _would _take up juggling."

Dez probably should have been affronted but instead, his chest swelled with misplaced pride. "I'm glad you think I look like a natural juggler." She mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like '_natural idiot is more like it_' under her breath but luckily the redhead didn't catch it. But then Dez suddenly sat up, back completely erect as he scanned the area like a meerkat.

Seriously, the resemblance was uncanny.

Austin stared at his friend, exasperated. "Dude, what's—?"

"Shh!" Dez frowned and held up a hand to his temple, appearing to be in deep concentration. "There's a disturbance in the force."

"Is this really the time to quote Star Wars?" Austin frowned.

Dez lifted his head away from his hand and gave Austin a solemn look. "There's always a time to quote Star Wars." He paused briefly. "Even during the Renaissance era."

"Never. The time to quote Star Wars is never," Trish deadpanned.

Dez shushed them again and replaced the hand to his temple. "As I was saying, there's a disturbance in the force; the Love Force, to be exact. Uh-oh." His features contorted in deeper concentration and his head twitched this way and that, fingertips now pressed into his temple. "Something's jamming… my Love Radar…" he muttered.

Austin's left eye twitched madly. "_Dez_," he growled, with as much menace he could muster toward his best friend, "if you start that _Love Crap_ up _one_ more time, I swe—"

"Look, _look!_" Dez ordered, head snapping up, a finger pointing emphatically in a direction over Austin's shoulder.

"Look at what?" Austin yelled, but his head whipped around in the direction of Dez's finger anyway. And then his left eye twitched again, but for an entirely different reason.

Because, in the corner of the pub, some _guy_—some _random guy_ was totally, _totally_, hitting on Ally.

His eyes honed in on the sandy-haired young man in an impressive, authentic costume, complete with a white, ruffled shirt underneath an emerald green vest which he paired with appropriately tight pants. Austin frowned when he noticed that his costume even had totally awesome leather arm bracers to tie the whole look together. He looked down at his simple tunic and black pants and frowned even harder.

"Dude," Dez said out of the corner of his mouth, "I don't think they're compatible."

Austin looked back up to the both of them. Ally was shaking her head politely and trying to swing her tray of food items—obviously their order—away from the 'gentleman' that was probably offering her a hand.

Just as he was about to leap up out of his chair and head over to her, she ducked under the guy's arm and hurried her way toward their table. Austin, however, didn't even have time to be relieved because Authentically Dressed Renaissance Guy—don't judge him about this, he's horrible at insults under pressure—was _following her_.

"Well then, what do you say?"

God_damm_it, the guy was _British_.

Ally gently set the tray down and turned around to the face their new company, deftly ignoring the curious glances from her friends. "I'm flattered, but—"

"Ally," he interrupted in his flawless and swoon-worthy accent. "It would be an incredible honor to have such a fair maiden like yourself by my side," he said, tilting his head in an almost shy manner as he gave her a charming smile. "The fairest I've seen all day, in point of fact." He grabbed both of her smaller hands in his larger ones, making her eyes widen and her cheeks turn pink from the gesture. Austin had to fight the urge to hyperventilate as his bulging eyes zeroed in on their conjoined hands, where they then squinted in silent rage.

"This guy is smooth," Dez whispered.

"And _hot_," Trish added.

Austin blamed it all on the accent.

Ally blinked rapidly and her cheeks darkened considerably. "I, um, that's—" she broke off with an audible gulp.

His smile turned near-bashful and he reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry. I hadn't meant to make you nervous, how could I not make note of your beauty?"

Dez nearly swooned in his seat. Trish had to fan herself. Austin wanted to strangle a bear with his bare hands.

"Well?" Smooth-Hot-British-Guy said, eyes locked in a one-sided heated gaze with Ally, the heat coming solely from his end as Ally still looked far too shell-shocked to really return any of the aforementioned heat. "I'd love to see you rooting for me during the tournament. You'd make a lovely queen." He gave her another dashing smile and Austin almost dry heaved.

Oh no, wait, he did dry heave.

This seemed to snap her out of her daze some and Ally shook her head, gently freeing her hands from his hold. "Oh no, I think I'm too young to be anyone's queen," she said nervously, trying to politely laugh off his advances. "But, uh, thanks again for the offer, Christopher."

Austin brightened at Ally's attempts to brush off Christopher. Too bad he refused to give up so easily.

"Then who will I share my victories with?" he asked with a frown. "I'd like nothing more than to have you in the stands, watching me as I—"

"Dude, what are you going _on_ about?" Austin finally snapped, his patience gone. He stood up and forcefully wedged himself between Ally and Christopher, glaring daggers at the other male. "She already said she wasn't interested so you should seriously back off."

Christopher blinked and looked down his nose at Austin. "And who might you be?" he asked, his voice carefully neutral. His eyes flickered over Austin's costume before meeting his eyes once more. He was clearly unimpressed if his sneer was anything to go by. "Do you happen to be a… _friend_ of Ally's, perhaps?"

"Hey!" Austin growled, jabbing a finger at him, inches away from his chest. "I happen to be her _best_ friend, pal." And then he cast a quick glance their _real_ respective best friends and said, "No offense, guys."

"None taken," they said simultaneously, clearly enjoying the show.

"Ah." Christopher sniffed disdainfully, picking lint off his vest in a bored manner. "I figured as such. You're hardly a worthy suitor for such a beautiful girl."

"Oh snap," Dez whispered.

"Man, can this _get_ any better?" Trish whispered back. She pulled the plate of onion rings between the two of them, offering him some. And they munched on their snacks while watching the entire scene unfold before them on the edge of their seats, filled with a giddy enthusiasm.

Austin's mouth fell open and he moved to take a step forward toward him. "Okay! That's it!"

Christopher raised an elegant eyebrow. "Do you wish to fight me? Because that would be absolutely barbaric." And yet, he moved into a fighting stance anyway.

"No, no! There will be no fighting!" Ally insisted as she ducked underneath Austin's arm to put herself between the two towering males, her tiny hands placed on their chests to keep them apart.

"Boo!" a voice jeered and a piece of onion ring bounced off her cheek.

Ally rolled her eyes before glaring at the perpetrator. "Dez! You are not helping!" She refocused her attention on the two young men on either side of her. "Can we _please_ be civil about this?" And then she frowned thoughtfully. "Whatever 'this' is? Because I don't think I know anymore."

"It's about _you_," four voices threw at her.

She shrank back a little. "Oh."

"I'm not gonna fight him, Ally," Austin promised, rolling his eyes.

She whipped her head around to look up at the blond. "Are you sure?" She hesitated and bit at her bottom lip. "Because you look angry." Worry etched itself into her delicate features and he felt the will to fight leave his body because Ally was far more important than his urge to deck this Christopher dude.

Austin's face softened and he grabbed the hand on his chest and slowly lowered it. With a gentle tug, he pulled her away from Christopher until she was standing by his side, their hands still clasped. "Look, Christopher, you're gonna have to find another… 'queen' or whatever because Ally isn't going to be yours, okay?" he said, his voice quiet but with enough of an edge that made Christopher regard him with a serious look for the first time.

"If you think I'm going to give up this easily," he started, "then you're just as dumb as I thought." The blond stilled at those words, anger sparking back up inside of him. Christopher smirked, his eyes glittering with promise of a challenge. "I propose a wager."

Austin froze and he could feel Ally's small hand tighten its grip on his, silently reminding him to be careful. "What kind of wager?" he asked, eying the other male warily.

"Join the tournament I spoke of," he said. "The winner gets a celebration in his name and gets to be crowned 'king', along with his 'queen'," his eyes flicked briefly to Ally and then back to Austin. His smirk suddenly became much more twisted, making it seem darker than before. "We'll see then just _who_ is worthy of Ally's hand."

"Oh my God," Trish breathed, eyes wide.

"I think this just got better," Dez said, completely breathless, clapping a hand over his heart from the suspense of it all.

Ally paled and her other hand flew to Austin's forearm and she tugged with all her might. "Austin, don't do it! It's not what you think! It's—"

"Done," he growled, sticking his hand out. Christopher immediately latched onto it and pumped twice, eyes gleaming darkly. When they released their hold, Austin stared at his hand, feeling oddly like he'd just made a deal with the devil.

"Excellent," Christopher said, lips curling upward. "You have until tonight to sign up for the tournament, which will take place early tomorrow morning. We celebrate the victor in the evening." His cold eyes turned to Ally. "You'll see soon enough who the better man is."

Her eyes narrowed and she glared back at him defiantly. "I'm pretty sure I already know who that is," she said in an icy tone, purposefully moving closer into Austin's side.

Christopher frowned at the pair in front of him. "Ally, you really should rethink your decision, dear."

"No. I don't think I will." She tilted her chin up stubbornly.

"Very well, then," Christopher said, sounding displeased. He spun around. "You'll come around soon enough. Or, I suppose, you'll have to once I'm crowned the king," he threw over his shoulder before exiting the pub.

The gang all glared at Christopher's back as he exited The Sea Hag's Shanty. The second he was out of sight, Ally whirled around to stand face to face with Austin, fear and worry written all over her face. "Austin, you can't join the tournament. You need to back out," she pleaded.

Austin snorted dismissively. "Oh, c'mon, Ally. It can't be that bad. What, are we, like, fake sword fighting with sticks or something?"

She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Guess again, genius."

Then he was nervous. "It's not… with _real _swords, is it?"

Ally rolled her eyes in a spectacular fashion. "It's a _jousting_ competition." She looked at him wearily. "As in, with lances. As in, in suits of armor. As in, _on horses_." She punctuated all of her staccato sentences with a jab to his chest.

Austin immediately looked stricken because somewhere, in the back of his mind, he registered that this was somehow worse. "Oh," he said, rapidly losing all of his confidence.

She raised an eyebrow, but worry continued to flicker in her big brown eyes. "Do you even know how to ride a horse?"

"It can't be that hard, right?" he asked with a very weak, fragile laugh.

Ally moaned in distress. "Just forfeit the tournament, Austin. You're going to get yourself hurt. Or worse, _killed_."

Dez gasped, the reality of it all apparently sinking in. "Wait, Austin! What if it's worse than that? What if you never dance again?" he cried.

Austin gave him the driest look imaginable. "Yeah, Dez, because never being able to dance again is a fate far worse than actual death."

"Hey, buddy, dancing and singing is your life, that's all I'm sayin'." He lifted his hands in polite surrender.

Trish finished off the last of the onion rings and cleared her throat until she had their attention. "Austin, you better not embarrass Ally out there," was all she said.

The brunette turned to her curly-haired best friend, indignant. "Trish! Come on, you seriously can't be agreeing to this."

Trish looked her best friend in the eye. "I will give you three reasons as to why I'm _seriously_ agreeing to this."

Ally raised an eyebrow. "But are they valid reasons?"

Trish ignored that and held up a finger. "One, I like to be entertained and this seems like it's going to be entertaining as _fuck_." She paused. "Providing that, you know, Austin doesn't end up in the hospital."

"Thanks, Trish," Austin said in deadpan, rolling his eyes.

A second finger popped into the air. "Two, Ally, you have two hot guys fighting over you. Do you know how awesome this is? This is _every girl's dream_. You need to _live _this dream for all of us that can't be that lucky."

Ally's brow furrowed, her weight shifting from foot to foot. "I don't _feel_ lucky," she said under her breath.

A third and final finger joined the first two. "And three, if these two idiots want to duke it out in a showcase of testosterone and play Big-Dog-Macho-Guy-Alpha-Man, I think it's better than them whipping it out and measuring it on table, so there."

Ally made a strangled noise in the back of her throat, her cheeks going red. "_Trish_."

Austin was red as well, palming his face, while Dez frowned in confusion. "Wait, what are they measuring?"

"_Nothing!_" Austin and Ally yelped, both too mortified to give him a real answer. And then Ally shook off her embarrassment and turned to the blond teen. "Please don't do this. I don't want you getting hurt just because of some jerk."

The blond frowned at her and crossed his arms. "Ally, that jerk didn't know how to take 'no' for an answer. All he wanted was a pretty girl to show off, like some sort of trophy."

She frowned and snapped back, "Oh, like you're so much better than him? You agreed to do the tournament! And now _I'm_ stuck in the middle as an actual prize."

"It's different," he argued, his frown deepening. "He doesn't even respect you! All he sees is a pretty girl to be his 'queen' or whatever and I—" he broke off, quickly realizing just how much of his guts he was about to spill.

"You what?" she asked, her voice going soft and quiet, her eyes growing wide. "What were you going to say?"

He gulped and prayed that his foot wouldn't end up in his mouth nor would his guts be spilled. "I didn't like the way he was treating you. I didn't like that he just wanted you on his arm to show off." He winced. "And I know that I wasn't much better myself, but _I _respect you, Ally. I see you for everything that you are and… and you're so much more than a pretty face. You're kind, intelligent, talented, and you're the most amazing person I know." He paused to give her a meaningful look while she stared back in absolute shock. "So just… please let me do this, okay? I want to take this guy down for ignoring what you wanted, for not listening to what you had to say, and for treating you like some sort of object."

Silence stretched out between them as her eyes flitted back and forth across his features.

"Okay," she whispered after a long moment, pinning him down with her gaze. She swallowed nervously. "Okay," she repeated, in a firmer voice this time around, nodding once.

Austin grinned at her. "I'll be fine," he said in as a reassuring a tone as he could manage. "Don't worry about me, okay?"

And then she launched herself at him, arms wrapping around his neck, his wrapping around her small waist. "You're about to enter a jousting tournament. Somebody has to," she said, burying her face into the crook of his neck.

His fingertips dug into the fabric of her dress, heating her skin through the thick material. "Hey," he whispered into her ear, "I don't want you worrying about me, alright? I want you out there, cheering me on, got it?"

She chuckled and shook her head, the tip of her nose rubbing against his skin. "What, I can't do both?" She pulled back and looked up at him, an affectionate smile on her lips, but a flicker of fear in her eyes.

Austin pulled his hands away from the small of her back to cup her face lightly. He inclined his head towards hers, until his bangs grazed across her the top of her hair, their foreheads almost, but not quite, touching. She looked up at him through her lashes and held her gaze unwaveringly. "Ally, I promise I won't do anything reckless." She gave him a look that clearly pointed out he was too late in making that promise and he rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Anything more reckless than I've already gotten myself into, okay?" he amended.

Ally sighed resignedly and bumped her forehead against his, a faint smile at her lips. "I guess that's as good a promise as any," she said in a low murmur. He chuckled, but didn't disagree, his thumbs stroking her rose-colored cheeks.

The sound of somebody clearing their throat took them out of their moment and they turned to look at Trish, dropping their arms reluctantly back to their sides.

"Ally, he's going to be okay. Austin, you better not lose to that uppity Brit. Dez, try to stay away from everything and don't fuck this up." Trish sighed and rubbed her forehead. "C'mon, we clearly got a lot of work to do if we want Austin to win this thing."

Ally frowned. "But… where do we even start?" she asked.

Dez stood up and looked at Austin with a grave expression. "I think I know what to do."

Austin nodded, determination settling over his features. "I think I know where this is going," he said, rolling his shoulders to help loosen up his muscles. He cracked his neck side to side, the noises making the ladies grimace.

"Training montage?"

Austin nodded once more, his lips thinning into a grim line. "Training montage."

* * *

"Wow, this is mind-numbingly boring."

Ally turned in her seat to frown at her friend. "Trish, we have to support Austin." The other girl groaned exaggeratedly and lolled her head back in a bored fashion. Ally frowned and nudged her friend with a gentle elbow. "Sit up! What if he sees?"

The two young women were seated on a bench next to a massive, vacant field, save for Austin and Dez.

"Ally, how is any of this going to actually help Austin learn how to joust? They don't even have a horse!"

Ally turned her eyes back to guys on the field. They were standing in the middle of the field, staring each other down. Previously, they had done random push-ups, sit-ups, a lap or two around the field, and some stretches. Now, they were sporting giant beards that hung to their chests. "I… don't know," she admitted, brow slightly furrowed.

"Dude, do jousters even need beards?" Austin asked, scratching at his chin. He frowned, not that Dez could really tell behind the blond, wiry beard obscuring his face anyway. "I don't remember Heath Ledger having a beard in A Knight's Tale…"

"Oh no, he didn't have one." Austin stared at his friend, expressionless. The redhead shrugged, stroking his beard carefully. "I just thought they'd be cool." He held out his hands and motioned for Austin to come closer. "Let me braid your beard."

Ally sighed and turned to Trish while the boys giggled and braided each other's fake beards. "You wanna get out of here?" she asked.

"Only if we're gonna get some cheesecake on a stick," Trish said, but she was already getting up and stretching.

"I am _so_ in the mood for some cheesecake on a stick," Ally muttered.

* * *

"Oh my God, you guys got an _actual_ horse?" Ally asked, incredulous, as she came up behind Austin.

"Yep," Austin said, sounding terrified.

The girls had returned from their brief break and while Trish resumed her previous seat on the bench to join Dez, Ally had immediately gone out to the field to join Austin, who had, thankfully, ditched the beard. The blond teen swallowed and kept his eyes trained on the horse, his entire body tensed. The horse somehow managed to look incredibly bored and when its tail twitched, Austin flinched and stared harder at the white horse, mottled with grey in the legs.

"Staring at him isn't going to teach you anything."

Austin's gaze briefly flicked to Ally's before flicking back. "I know." And then they flicked to Ally's once more and stayed. "Hey! Why didn't you get me one?" He pouted, looking at the cheesecake she was nibbling on.

She raised an incredulous eyebrow at him. "Austin, focus?" she suggested while she pointed at the horse in front of him.

"Oh. Right." He shook his head and returned to his staring contest with the horse. And then, after a long pause, "Ally?"

"You have no idea what you're doing, huh?" she guessed.

He nodded. "Uh-huh."

Ally sighed and held out her cheesecake. "Here," she said. He looked at her hopefully as he took it from her hands and she rolled her eyes. "Yes, you can have a bite." She ignored him while he practically finished off the rest of her dessert. She was much more preoccupied with making her way to the horse. "Horses aren't scary, you know."

He frowned. That was easy for her to say; she didn't inadvertently sign herself up for a jousting tournament and had to learn how to ride a horse in less than twenty four hours! Probably because she was way smarter than him and could never be goaded into doing something so dumb, _but still_. "Yeah, but it's not like you're about to—"

"Hey, hey, you're not so big and tough, are you?" she said, laughing quietly. "You're just a big softie, yeah?" He stared, amazed that within moments, she was already stroking and petting the horse's neck with careful hands. She grinned, her features lightening up happily as the horse made happy nickering noises. She turned to Austin, triumphant grin in place. "_You're _just a big baby," she teased.

His mouth hung open. "How… how did you do that?"

She motioned for him to come over. "Don't approach him directly," she warned. "Come from the side." Austin did as he was told and when they were side by side, she grabbed his hand and lifted it so the back of his hand was aimed at the horse's nostrils. After a few sniffs, Ally nodded encouragingly and with slight trepidation, Austin slowly turned his hand around to stroke the horse. He immediately lit up and turned to Ally with a broad grin.

"This is so awesome," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Ally laughed and backed away a little, letting Austin get to know the horse since he'd have to be riding him for the tournament. "What's his name?" she asked as she watched the two with a soft a smile.

"Alabaster Storm. Al for short."

Ally raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Uh-huh." Austin turned to regard her curiously. "How are you so good with horses?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

She gave him a sheepish look. "I went through a huge pony phase when I was younger," she admitted.

Austin snickered. "God, you're adorable," he said, his lips automatically curving up into a fond smile.

"I was totally obsessed," she said, cringing slightly, which only served to widen his grin. "I made my parents take me every couple of months to see them." She smiled a little wistfully as she stared at Al. "It's definitely been a while though."

And then he realized something and he lit up, a hand flying to her shoulder. "Ally! Do you know how to ride horses?"

She shook her head adamantly, already with the sinking feeling of knowing where this was going to go. "Oh no. There's no way I'm teaching you how to ride a horse."

He frowned. "Then how am I supposed to do this stupid tournament? Riding a horse is half of it!" Ally crossed her arms and shook her head again. "C'mon, Ally, please? You'll be able to get back on a horse," he wheedled. Her shoulders drooped and her eye contact wavered, all signs that she was quickly losing her resolve. "Come on! Don't you miss horses? Like you said, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

Ally cast a glance over Al. "I… well, yeah, that's true…" She bit her lip thoughtfully, looking longingly at the innocent horse.

"So come on! Why are you turning down the amazing opportunity to ride a horse_ and_ spend time with your best friend?"

She scrubbed her hands over her face and moaned resignedly. "One of these days, Austin Monica Moon, one of these days you won't be able to smooth talk me into one of your ridiculous schemes."

"But that day is not today!" he declared in triumph. And then he practically tackled her to the ground in his haste to give her a hug. "Have I ever told you that you're awesome?"

She laughed and returned his hug, even though she was almost parallel to the ground from the force of it. "It never gets tiring, though."

* * *

"Oh, yuck," Trish said, pulling a face.

"What? I think they're cute," Dez said, brow furrowed as he watched Austin and Ally's embrace from the sidelines.

"Oh no, they're cuter than a basket of kittens." He couldn't tell whether she was being sarcastic or not so he didn't say anything. She turned to the redhead by her side. "Although I don't know about you, but I'm not waiting around any longer to get slapped in the face with their blatant unresolved sexual tension." He made a face at that. "Exactly," she said, getting up. "C'mon, while she's teaching him one half of jousting, let's go and help him with the other half."

Dez raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? And how do we do that?"

Trish rolled her eyes. "Just trust me, would ya?" And then she flounced off, a skeptical Dez jumping off the bench and following closely behind.

"You know, the last time you said that, I almost died."


	2. The Training

In the midst of writing this chapter, I came to the stunning realization that I do not know how to write action scenes nor do I know how to make jousting interesting. Also, I tend to overdo it with the OCs.

Stay tuned for part three next week! Or not. I'll understand either way.

* * *

"Austin, stop squirming," Ally whispered over her shoulder.

Austin continued shifting in his seat behind her. "I can't help it!" he whispered back, his chest pressed against her back.

"You're going to freak out Al," she said with a frown. From her perch on his back, she leaned over to pet him with a gentle hand.

Austin rolled his eyes, trying to get comfortable without a saddle since it wouldn't fit two. "Oh no, we can't have _Al_ freaking out," he said, much like a petulant child.

She sighed, craning her neck to give him a stern look. "Austin, are you ready? We don't have all day." He nodded reluctantly and she smiled a little, turning to face the front once again. "Okay, now hang on and I'll give you some pointers to help you learn. When you're comfortable enough, I'll get off and we'll see how well you do on your own."

Austin looked around wildly and asked, "Hang on _where?_"

"My _hips_, Austin," she said, rolling her eyes impatiently.

He immediately stilled, his spine stiffening as her words sank in. "Oh," he choked out, grateful that she was turned away from him so she wouldn't see the redness of his cheeks. He slowly placed his hands on her hips, his fingers barely skimming the fabric of her dress because he was too nervous to tighten his grip. "Like this?" he asked. The sound of his voice cracking was doing wonderful things to his ego, let him tell you.

"Perfect!" she chirped, completely unaware of how their close proximity was affecting him. "Ready?" She grabbed the reins and waited for his okay.

"Yep," he said, fighting desperately to keep his voice at its normal octave. He caught a whiff of her hair—something light and refreshing and clean—and froze because he didn't want to be that creeper guy that sniffed pretty girls' hair without permission. He grew up with manners, goddammit. He tried to lean back to distance himself from her.

Al started to move, trotting fairly quickly around the field. The movement surprised him and he jerked forward, chest bumping into her back and destroying all the space he'd tried so hard to put between them. On reflex, his fingers curled around her hips in a much firmer grasp and he immediately apologized.

"Austin, it's fine," she said with a light laugh. "I don't want you falling off the horse." Well, she had a point there so he relaxed and held on tighter. She glanced briefly at him over her shoulder and gestured for him to look forehead. "Now pay attention, okay?" He nodded and when she faced forward, he carefully leaned over to get a better look at how she was holding the reins, his chin coming down to rest gently on the shoulder that her hair wasn't tossed over. She stilled when his chin made contact and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, her cheeks turning pink.

Instinctively, he pulled his glance away from the reins in her small hands to make eye contact. He could tell that it wasn't until then that she realized _just_ how close their bodies were and she was having a bit of a delayed reaction. Deciding not to embarrass her, he smiled softly and asked, "Hey, weren't we in the middle of a lesson here?"

She blinked, wide-eyed and abruptly turned back to the front. "R-right. Of course," she said, shaking her head. She cleared her throat and straightened her posture, her back now flushed against his chest. He didn't really have time to focus on how nice that felt though, because Ally was giving him a lecture on how to hold the reins and he internally sighed. He knew how she could get while teaching him something; their study sessions could be brutal. So he sat up and started to concentrate on her instructions. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he made a mental note to take her horseback riding after the whole jousting tournament.

* * *

Like everything else Austin did—except maybe arts and crafts—horseback riding came naturally. It didn't take long before he was already learning how to gallop around the field as Ally watched from the bench and shouted out the occasional criticism or helpful tip. Austin grinned and did another quick lap around the field, feeling the adrenaline pumping through his veins, the wind ruffling his bangs. He came to a halt a few feet away from the bench and waited until it was safe to slide off Al's back. He gave him an affectionate pat on the neck before jogging over to Ally, running a hand through his hair.

"See?" he said with a wide and cheeky grin, coming to a stop in front of her. "It wasn't that hard."

She raised an eyebrow and stood up from the bench. "You say that now, but what about when we put you in some armor and hand you a lance?" His grin fell a little but he maintained it for the most part. But then she chuckled and punched him in the shoulder. "Oh, I'm sure you'll do fine," she said with an encouraging smile. "I mean, it's not like this is _real _jousting where you could actually _die_—"

"What?" Austin said, wide-eyed and alarmed.

"—or anything like that so I think you'll be okay."

He stared at her for a very long time. "Well, that's reassuring," he said, sounding quite sarcastic. She beamed at him, patting him gently on the forearm. He stared a little harder at her for that.

"Austin! Ally!" When the pair turned around, they saw their best friends running toward them. Trish grinned triumphantly. "We got Austin a suit of armor." She grinned wider. "_And _one of those stick-things."

Dez rolled his eyes. "It's called a lance_, hello!_"

"Cut it with the movie references," Trish said, sneering at him.

Austin sighed mightily and held up a hand. "Guys." He was ignored. "_Guys_," he repeated, much louder. The bickering duo stopped and turned to him. He raised an eyebrow. "Something about some armor and a lance?" he asked, trying to keep on topic.

"Oh, right." Trish looked smug. "We were looking and asking around for stuff for the tournament and we found a guy. He said he'll let you borrow a suit of armor and a few lances to practice. He's providing a lot of the stuff for the tournament and I told him about you and Christopher and he was all, 'Aw man, I _hate_ that freakin' prick. Sure, I'll help your dumbass friend; let's hope he doesn't get killed.'"

At the look on Austin's face, Ally immediately stepped up. "I'm sure he was just kidding."

Dez didn't look so sure. "I dunno, Ally," he said, "he said people end up in hos—"

"—tels!" Ally interrupted. "Hostels. They go there to, uh, rest and stuff." Her eyes shifted back and forth.

Dez squinted his eyes at her, unimpressed with her poor save. "People make horror movies about hostels," he reminded her.

"_Dez!_" Ally hissed, giving him a _look _and jerking her head at Austin, trying to silently communicate to him that he _needed to shut up_.

The redhead blinked innocently. "What?" he asked, sounding as clueless as usual, which was pretty clueless.

Austin gulped and tried to look like he wasn't going to vomit up his turkey leg or pass out. "Let's just go get the stuff," he said in a squeaky voice. He shook his head and cleared his throat. "The stuff," he repeated, in a gruff manly voice to atone for his previous pitch problem.

* * *

"This is it, right?" Ally asked, sounding unsure as she cast a glance to Austin.

Austin nodded. "It has to be. Dez and Trish said it was the biggest building and that it sort of looked like a gray barn."

"Well, can't argue with you there," she said with a mild frown as she turned back to stare at the giant warehouse in front of them. It did sort of look like it was an abandoned barn.

Dez and Trish had given them directions on how to find the place and decided to stay behind in the field, offering to keep Al company and set up practice dummies to help Austin with his training.

"Well, you ready to go in?" Austin asked. She nodded and he took a step toward the open door, Ally following after him.

"Oi, you the dumbass joining the jousting tournament against that no-good prick tomorrow?"

They had barely made it past the entrance before the question was shouted in their general direction. The voice was also British but with a rougher accent, not nearly as posh as Christopher's, belonged to an older teen as he meandered his way over to them, a helmet under an arm. He took a second to stop by a nearby table to drop off the helmet. He had black hair and a five o'clock shadow along his jaw and was dressed in jeans and a dark grey tank instead of medieval clothes. He eyed Austin, a curious smirk on his face. "Heard he was messin' with your lady."

Austin and Ally immediately became flustered.

"It's not like—"

"I was just trying—"

He barked out a laugh and clapped Austin so hard on the shoulder he stumbled. "You two teenagers are fuckin' adorable." He held out a hand and said, "Charlie." Austin shook his hand and introduced himself and Ally. When Charlie shook her hand, she was accidentally jerked forward from the force. "Oops," he said with a chuckle as he loosened up his hold on her hand. "You're tiny."

"You've got a good eye there," Ally said, staring at him dully. Charlie gave her a small look of surprise from her sarcasm but then gave her an amused grin.

Austin laughed affectionately and placed an elbow on her shoulder, using it to rest on. "That she is." Ally rolled her eyes and waited a few seconds until she knew Austin was comfortable before abruptly bending her knees and darting away. Austin lost his balance due to the sudden loss of his elbow rest and stumbled again. "Whoa!"

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Your balance is shit. And you do okay on a horse?" he asked, sounding skeptical.

Austin quickly straightened. "I just learned how to ride a horse today, actually," he said, sheepish.

Charlie blinked and kept his face carefully blank. "Oh God. You're fucked, mate," was all he said after a moment's pause.

"He's actually really good," Ally said, quickly. "He was practically a natural." She turned to Austin, beaming proudly.

"That's cute and all, but do you know how to joust?" Charlie asked.

"Well, I was gonna learn," Austin said with a wince.

Charlie nodded slowly. "Yes, that would probably be best."

Austin looked hopeful. "Do you know how? Could you teach me?"

He shook his head. "I just help make armor and the lances," he said, looking honestly apologetic. He jerked a thumb behind him. "But Kenzie probably could."

"Who's Kenzie?" Ally asked, trying to peer around the two tall giants obscuring her view. She secretly prayed it wasn't another tall giant. She was really tired of tall giants.

Charlie turned around and shouted, "Oi, Kenz! Get your arse in here!"

"You called?" a voice sighed from outside. Moments later, an older girl that looked to be around Charlie's age walked in through a side door. She had black hair pulled back into a ponytail but was olive-skinned, so Austin quickly ruled out her being related to Charlie. Like Charlie, she was wearing modern clothes as well. She took one look at Austin and Ally before turning to Charlie, curious. "Charlie, where did you find these children?" She had an accent as well, but it was closer to Christopher's and not nearly as gruff sounding as Charlie's.

He rolled his eyes. "They came to me," he said. "Austin. Ally," he said, pointing to them as he said their names.

"Did you now, Austin and Ally?" she said in a musing tone.

"We're not children," Austin said, frowning petulantly.

Kenzie snickered and poked Austin lightly in the cheek. "You've still got your baby fat, Austin."

He batted her hand away, red and embarrassed. Ally laughed quietly beside him and he shot her a look of betrayal, which only made her laugh harder. "I need to learn how to joust," he said, rolling his eyes.

Kenzie stopped her snickering and looked at him, surprised. "And why's that?"

"Christopher was hittin' on her," Charlie gestured to Ally, "so now they're gonna duke it out during the jousting tournament." He sighed and shook his head. "You should have gone with a fistfight," he said. "Classic, really."

Kenzie and Ally rolled their eyes. "Men," they muttered under their breath simultaneously. They looked at each other with surprise before grinning. Ally immediately came to the conclusion that she liked her and was also pleased that while Kenzie was taller than her, she happened to be shorter than the guys.

"Are you joining the tournament?" Ally asked, looking at Kenzie.

"Her peg leg stops her from doing so," Charlie piped up with a cheeky grin.

Kenzie punched him viciously in the shoulder and Charlie looked like he was trying to hold back a grunt of pain. Austin couldn't help it, his eyes darted down to her feet but he saw a pair of black leather riding boots. "He's kidding," she said, staring at Austin flatly, who looked embarrassed for being so gullible. She turned to Ally and shook her head ruefully. "Christopher banned me last year so I'm not allowed to participate anymore," she said with a roll of her eyes.

Ally looked shocked. "What happened last year?"

"She broke his fuckin' nose!" Charlie said, cackling madly.

Kenzie folded her arms. "He wouldn't take 'no' for an answer," she said in a measured voice.

"I know how you feel," Ally mumbled as she shuddered with revulsion from the memory of Christopher and his 'charm'. Kenzie shot her a look of understanding.

Charlie slung an arm around her shoulder. "So, Kenz, you gonna teach the lil' one how to joust?" he said in a wheedling tone.

The other girl looked at him, eyebrow arched. "It's not exactly the safest hobby."

"I wanna see somebody other than Christopher winning the title for once." Charlie growled. "It should have been you last year."

She shrugged. "Breaking his nose was worth it."

He tugged her closer in an affectionate manner. "That it was," he agreed. "But c'mon, I'll provide him the armor; you'll provide him the startling feats of athleticism known as jousting." He gestured to the younger teens and said, "I mean, just look at them. How can you deny them this simple request?"

Kenzie took one look at Austin and Ally's identical puppydog looks and was alarmed by an overwhelming urge to mother them and protect them. "Good God," she muttered with a frown. "Okay, okay! I'll teach you how to joust. Just put those damn weapons away." She sighed and shot Charlie an exasperated look as the three around her cheered excitedly. "Of course you would find some hapless teen for me to mentor so he can get our revenge against Christopher for us, _of course_."

He chuckled at her. "Worked out better than my original plan."

Kenzie looked at him, surprised. "You had an original plan?" she asked, dubious.

"I was gonna cut off your hair and talk you into entering it as a man under an assumed identity," he said, batting at her ponytail with his free hand. She shot him a disgruntled look. "Or, you know, I was going to talk you into breaking his nose again," he said with a shrug.

Kenzie laughed and pushed Charlie's arm off her shoulder. She turned to look at Austin, a wry smile in place. "Okay, have Charlie find you an armor that'll fit right. We'll practice without one first, so you get the feel of jousting. After you're ready, we'll put you in the suit so you can get used to the added weight for the tournament." Austin nodded to show that he understood. "You know the field outside the fairgrounds?"

"Yep," Austin said with another nod, thinking back to where he'd ridden Al earlier that day.

"We'll get you a horse and—"

"I've got a horse," Austin said with a grin, feeling ridiculously proud.

She blinked, but was decidedly unfazed by his statement. "Good. We'll set up some targets—"

"Our friends Dez and Trish are doing that for us now," Ally said.

She blinked again before letting out a slow laugh. "Well, you lot have certainly been busy all morning." She shook her head. "Okay. Just meet Ally and me down at the field, yeah?" She turned to Ally and tilted her head to the side. "Mind giving me a hand with the lances?" Ally shook her head, eager to help. The girls left the warehouse, chattering away.

The boys watched their backs as they exited, frowning. "Well, _bye!_" Charlie called after them in a huff once it became clear they were too engrossed in their conversation to pay any more attention to them. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the blond. "The armors are in the back, come on," he said with a jerk of his head.

Austin followed him to the back of the warehouse, where there were a few suits of armor lined up against the wall with pieces and bits strewn across the ground. Charlie immediately started digging through a pile of spare parts in a corner. He side-stepped a chest plate that went sailing through the air and cleared his throat. "So, uh, can I ask you something?"

"One, no, I don't think you're actually going to die—as long as you play your cards right. And two, Kenzie's not my girlfriend."

Austin stared at the back of Charlie's head as he continued rummaging, baffled. "Wha—how did you know I was going to ask those questions?"

Charlie turned around and shrugged. "Well, the first one was pretty obvious, you looked nervous as shit coming in here." He rolled his eyes and turned back to the spare parts. "And everyone always wonders about Kenzie and me." He grabbed a chest plate and turned around to Austin. He held it up to the blond's chest, narrowed an eye thoughtfully and grunted unhappily, tossing it aside. He returned to the pile. "Kenzie's a fine woman, but I think she'd rather gut me with a sword or brain me with a mace before she'd even consider dating me," he said with a laugh.

Austin shuddered at the mention of maces.

"So, you gonna stand there and tell me you don't have any feelings for Ally? Or are you gonna tell me the truth?" He turned around and held up another chest plate, this time grinning triumphantly. He carefully set it aside for later use.

The blond sighed and looked mildly embarrassed. "That obvious?"

Charlie gave an apologetic chuckle. "Sorry, mate."

Austin gave him a considering look. "You know… you said you didn't think Kenzie was interested, but what about you?" he asked, hoping to turn the tables on him. "Are you interested in her?"

The chuckling abruptly stopped and Charlie tensed. "Oi, this ain't about me and Kenz. This is about you, Ally, and Christopher, innit?"

Austin wasn't fooled. He snickered, eyes quickly filling with mirth. "Dude, you're totally into her, aren't you?" he asked, sounded gleeful.

Charlie rolled his eyes and threw an entire leg of armor at Austin's chest. When the other teen grunted and fell to the ground from the impact, he feigned an innocent look. "Whoops, sorry. Try that on, would ya?"

* * *

"Austin seems like a good boyfriend," Kenzie said, as if stating a casual observation, as she and Ally stuffed some hay into a target, trying to add a more humanoid shape for Austin to aim at. Dez and Trish were stuffing dummies a few yards down from them. "Since he's willing to fight for you and everything. I think it's rather sweet," she said with a smile.

Ally stopped stuffing the dummy with hay and stared at Kenzie, red-faced. "Uh," Ally coughed quietly. "Austin... Austin isn't my boyfriend," she said under her breath, staring intently at the hole she was supposed to stuff with hay.

Kenzie raised an eyebrow. "Really?" Ally nodded, playing with the hay in her hands nervously. "And he's just jumping in, learning how to ride a horse and how to joust to try to defend your honor because…?" she trailed off, her eyebrow arching higher.

"He's a really good friend?" Ally said, her shoulders cocked.

Kenzie snorted and rolled her eyes. "So's Charlie," she muttered before viciously shoving a fistful of hay into the dummy's armpit. "But I can assure you, he'd never do something like that for me." She sighed, appearing thoughtful. "He'd probably tell me that I'd knock out the guy faster than he ever could, anyway."

"Really?"

"Well… yeah," Kenzie said with reluctance, shoving another fistful into the dummy, this time in its lower belly. She sighed, feeling irritable. "Great. I don't even know what I'm saying. I don't really need Charlie 'defending my honor' or anything but… it'd be nice if he didn't consider me 'one of the guys', you know?"

"You really think he sees you like that?" she asked with a frown.

She stared at her flatly. "The last time I wore a dress he looked at me and asked if it was because I couldn't find a clean pair of trousers."

Ally flinched. "Oh no." She sighed and shook her head. "Then what happened?"

"I shoved him into a rubbish bin. We were sixteen." Kenzie appeared slightly sheepish. "Charlie just really sets me off sometimes," she said, wincing.

Ally inclined her head, giving her a considering look. "You like him a lot, don't you?"

Kenzie smiled ruefully. "Yeah, but I'd rather brain him with a mace than tell him, to be perfectly honest." She sighed and looked at Ally. "If you like the boy, you should just tell him. You two don't seem nearly as daft as Charlie and me."

Ally stared at Kenzie for a long time. "I love Austin—"

"Do you now?" Kenzie cut in with a suggestive lilt, giving her a sly look.

Her cheeks turned pink. "No, no! No, n-not like that!" she said, stumbling over her words. "But… trust me when I say Austin is incredibly daft."

Kenzie made a face. "We are far too smart to fall for such silly boys," she said in a sardonic tone.

"And yet, here we are anyway," Ally said in a similar tone, rolling her eyes.

The taller girl sighed. "We should leave them; that'll show them."

"You think those two could do anything on their own?" Ally raised an eyebrow. "I know for a fact that Austin has enough trouble picking out a pair of shoes in the morning."

"Really?"

Ally gave her new friend a look. "He's texted me pictures of different options, telling me to choose for him on more than one occasion."

Kenzie nodded solemnly. "You're right; they'd be hopeless without us."

"Tell me about it."

* * *

A little while later, Austin and Charlie strolled out on to join the rest of the crew on the field. They were sitting in a circle and Al was nearby, grazing on some hay lazily. Kenzie was the first to notice them and she stood up, stalking over to them, a frown set into her features. "Charlie, if you're here, who's watching the warehouse?"

"Locked it up," he said with a wide grin, holding up a key for her to see. She crossed her arms and glared at him. He pocketed the key and scoffed. "Oh, like I'd miss _this_." He grinned and clapped a hand on Austin's shoulder. "Go. Be our entertainment. Try not to die," he said with great exuberance.

Kenzie swatted him on the back of the head. "Don't scare the poor kid." She turned to Austin. "He's just being a dick. I can punch him if you'd like," she said with a friendly smile. She held up a fist, ready to strike. Charlie flinched and stepped to the side.

Austin looked at the two like he didn't know whether to be worried or amused. "Uh, why don't we just start?" he said with a small chuckle.

Kenzie brightened and said, "My pleasure." She walked over to Al and kindly waited until he was done with his mouthful of hay. "Make sure the lance and the reins are in separate hands. And before you strike with the lance, you _need_ to let go of the reins so you don't accidentally injure your horse. It's tricky, but use your legs to help steer the horse. And you can grab the reins immediately after the pass is over." She waited for Austin to nod and then she continued. "A lot of the time, it just takes being the fastest, being the first person to stri—"

"Oi, Kenz! Just hit a dummy already!" Charlie called, cupping his mouth with his hands.

She rolled her eyes but hopped up on to the horse. "Shut your mouth before I tie you to a post and have Austin use you as a target," she said as she and Al made their way down the field, putting distance between the line of targets and everyone else.

"I'm shakin' in me boots," he said with a smirk as he crossed his arms leisurely. Austin snickered and shot him a knowing look and Charlie's smirk immediately fell. "Oi, stop your laughing."

Austin shook his head, still laughing quietly out of the side of his mouth. "Nobody's laughing," he said with a shrug that reeked of lies.

Charlie turned to Ally with an overly sweet smile. "Ally, sweetheart, Austin has something he's been mean—oof!" He was cut off because Austin tackled him to the ground.

"I've got nothing to say!" Austin shouted, as he tried to smother his hands over Charlie's mouth. Ally stared at the two of them, mouth slightly agape with her brow furrowed. "He's lying!"

"Good _God_, you ponce, if you don't tell her, I bloody will!"

Trish raised an eyebrow as she watched the scuffle. "Wow. I don't really know what's going on here, but I'm enjoying this."

Dez whipped out his camera and started to film them. "Should we stop them?" he asked, in voice that clearly hoped they wouldn't have to.

Ally rubbed her temples and shrugged. "I have no idea." She eyed the two young men smacking each other in the face with limp wrists. "Those aren't even real punches so I'm sure they're fine."

Trish snorted. "This is the most pathetic fight I've ever seen." The pitifulness didn't seem to lessen her amusement as she grinned when Charlie started tugging on Austin's hair.

Kenzie watched as the two rolled around in the field and sighed mightily. "Dez," she called out, "be a dear and hand me a lance, would you?" Dez grabbed a lance and ran to her, handing it over. She shot him a grateful smile and thanked him. He stumbled as he walked away, momentarily dazed by her pretty smile.

Charlie stopped and craned his neck to see Dez and Kenzie. "You better put 'em eyeballs back in your head, kid!" he bellowed. Dez's eyes widened and he ran and cowered behind Ally, who shot a look of disbelief at him over her shoulder.

Austin laughed, finally getting off of Charlie and plopping down on the grass next to him. "Dude, Dez's harmless."

Charlie propped himself up on his elbows and gave him a considering look. "Really?"

The blond nodded and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Yeah, Kenzie's pretty, but Dez won't make a move. Trust me."

"You two idiots done yet?" Kenzie said, exasperated. Austin and Charlie sent her a friendly wave and she gave a feral grin as she prepared herself. With a kick from her calves, Al was off, charging forward. Her lance, which had been pointed upwards, lowered until it was parallel with ground. All too soon, it was over, the lance was partly splintered from the hit and the dummy was torn apart, half of it falling from the post to land in the grass. She gave a triumphant cheer and when Al came to a stop, she jumped off, gave him a loving pat, and then spun around to the slack-jawed expressions of everyone except Charlie, who was grinning like a madman.

"That's my girl," Charlie murmured with pride. He turned to see everyone picking their jaws up off the ground.

"Holy crap."

"Dude, that shot was so awesome."

"Oh, wow..."

"Yep. Skipping my shift was totally the right call."

He sat up and raised an eyebrow at Austin. "You think you can do that?"

"Let's hope so," he said. His features were set with grim determination but Charlie noticed the flicker of fear in his eyes as he eyed the fallen target. He grimaced. "I really don't wanna be _that_ guy," he said as he jerked his head forward at the broken dummy.

Charlie gave him a sardonic smile. "Then you better pay close attention and learn from the best."

Kenzie made her way over to the rest of the group. She gave a mock bow as Dez, Trish, and Ally gave her a round of applause. "Okay, Austin, you ready?" she asked with a bright smile. She tilted her head and her ponytail swung back and forth behind her. "Let's see you try it on your own first, see if you've got any sort of natural knack for it. I'll give you a few pointers after." She held out a hand, Austin grabbed it, and she hulled him to his feet. She pointed down the field and Austin's line of sight followed her finger. "Get Al down that way and I'll bring you a lance, yeah?"

He nodded and turned to look at his friends, giving them a weak smile. They all cheered him on and while he appreciated the support and encouragement, it didn't stop his stomach from dropping, the dread creeping in, nor did it stop his knees from shaking. He walked over to Al and got into position further down the field. Kenzie was already halfway there by the time he'd turned around to face the targets. He took deep, even breaths to try and steady his breathing while he waited for the lance.

Once Kenzie made it to him, she handed him the lance. "Good luck," she said sincerely. "Are you nervous?"

He gulped and stared, wide-eyed, ahead. Funny, he didn't remember those targets looking so menacing before. "Uh-huh," he said with a quick nod.

"Just imagine Christopher's face up there."

Austin turned to her and blinked. "What?"

She chuckled. "Just imagine him up there, being an arse," she suggested with a shrug. "Then you'll be too angry to focus on how nervous you are."

He turned his head, suddenly curious. "What did you imagine?"

Her expression immediately darkened. "The time Charlie broke into my house and stole all of my shoes and half my closet because I had a hot date."

"Whoa," Austin said, eyes growing even wider, "you two have some serious issues."

Kenzie rolled her eyes in a spectacular fashion. "Oh God, don't get me started on Charlie and _his _issues." She shook her head. "Anyway, go and make Ally proud; dismantle the shit out of that dummy." She grinned up at him before turning around and jogging back to the group.

Austin watched her go and almost wanted to call her back for a second demonstration. He sighed and after one last glance at his friends, he gulped and went for it. Al galloped ahead and Austin lowered the lance as the target came nearer and nearer.

He sucked in a breath, held his lance steady, braced himself for the impact, and… promptly missed as the lance continued to run through the air but not through the dummy.

_Well_, he thought, _that was incredibly underwhelming. _

He sighed irritably and had Al circle back around to the field. Charlie looked like he was having a difficult time holding back his laughter, Dez and Trish looked confused, and Ally and Kenzie both gave him sympathetic looks. He shot Charlie a withering glare after another poorly concealed snort of laughter.

"At least you didn't fall off the horse?" Ally said, wincing.

Kenzie nodded emphatically. "Yes. At least he didn't fall off the horse, you're absolutely right, Ally." Charlie snorted very loudly and Kenzie elbowed him. "Charlie, do you want to go back to the warehouse?"

He immediately stopped and sat up, straight-faced. "No, ma'am."

"Then kindly shut up." Kenzie turned back to her pupil. "Austin, it's okay. Just keep going until you hit the target. It's going to take some practice," she said. "Don't be discouraged. You'll get it soon."

Austin let out a frustrated sigh, inadvertently ruffling his bangs in the process, but nodded, determined to learn and become a decent jouster by tomorrow's tournament. He started at the opposite end of the field again. He closed his eyes for a brief second and when he opened them, he focused on nothing but the target in front of him. Before he even realized it, Al was already charging forward. He stared straight ahead and somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered the dull noise of his friends cheering him own. He lowered the lance and urged Al to go faster, and his eyes never wavered from the target. He imagined Christopher's smug face up there and his eyes narrowed as his grip on the lance tightened. This time, the lance made contact and the sound of the dummy landing with a dull thump shot a sense of thrill through him.

He threw the unbroken lance down and when Al came to a stop, he jumped off and turned around, grinning like an idiot. The grin quickly dropped when he realized that there were five bodies hurling themselves at him. Ally flung herself around his neck while congratulating him repeatedly into his ear and his arms wrapped around her waist instinctively. He couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. A second later, Dez and Trish joined either side of him in a group hug, Charlie clapped him on the shoulder and ruffled his hair in a brotherly way while Kenzie grinned and watched.

When the group disentangled themselves, Kenzie clapped her hands together. "That was amazing!" she said and he couldn't help but preen slightly. "But you'll get more points awarded if the lance breaks." Then she pointed to the targets with a stern finger. "So again!" she ordered.

Austin hung his head but shuffled back to Al obediently. "Okay, okay."

Dez was chattering about how he'd gotten it all on film as they headed toward their previous sitting area. Trish asked him to rewind it so she could watch again and Ally bopped along behind them, trying to catch a glimpse as well.

The tall Brit waited until they were out of earshot. "Kid might not be a lost cause after all, eh, Kenz?" Charlie murmured beside her.

She watched him like a hawk as he got back on the horse. "Maybe," she said in a thoughtful tone, "But we haven't seen him in armor nor has he gone up against a _moving_ opponent." She sighed and her forehead creased with worry. "Let's just hope nothing disastrous happens."

"Oi, 'tween you and me, nothing's gonna happen to Austin, okay?" He slung an arm around her shoulder as they headed off in the direction the others did, gesturing between the both of them with the same hand. "With your tutelage and my armor, kid's gonna be _fine_."

"You really think so?" The skepticism was abundantly clear in her question.

"Well, I mean, if he doesn't do a good job then that just means he had a shit teacher," he said with a careless shrug.

Kenzie's eyes narrowed. "You're egging me on."

He gave her a look that implied he thought it was cute she had to state that out loud. "Quite obviously, yes."

She rolled her eyes. "Let's just sit down and support him."

He took his arm off her and gestured for her to go on. "Please, ladies first." The look he gave her was full of faux sincerity. She gave him a withering glare, punched him in the arm, and told him to hand Austin a lance as she went to join everyone else. He chuckled as he watched her go but did as he was told to avoid another punch.

* * *

After a while, Kenzie felt like Austin was mostly getting the hang of things. Another hint was that Dez and Trish were starting to doze off from watching Austin repeatedly run a lance through a dummy dozens and dozens of times. Charlie was also bored because he couldn't stop playing with her hair, swatting at her ponytail much like a cat. Ally was the only person still utterly alert and paying close attention to everything Austin was doing.

Austin had finally run out of lances by breaking them and he hopped off Al and walked up to the half-dead crowd. "Let's take a break," he said, exhausted as he swiped at his bangs matted to his forehead with sweat.

"Well, you're out of lances, mate, so may as well," Charlie said.

Kenzie chuckled. "I was actually about to suggest the same thing, Austin."

Austin immediately dropped to the ground beside Ally. "Thanks, guys," he said with a tired sigh. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm just gonna…" he trailed off and flopped onto the grass, arms and legs sprawled out haphazardly.

Kenzie shot him a sympathetic look and turned to the others. "How about we go and get Austin something a snack?" And then she looked at Al, lying down in the field. "And Al, as well? I think the boys deserve it, yeah?"

Austin's arm shot up. "Kenzie," he said, pointing at her, "you are the best. Water and a turkey leg, if you don't mind."

She laughed and nodded. "Okay, c'mon. Our legs could use a bit of a stretch as well. Up, up."

Charlie was up immediately while Dez and Trish followed at a much slower rate. But they were all eager to get up and stretch their legs for a spell. Ally was the only one still sitting down, staring at Austin plaintively.

"Ally?" Trish said, raising an eyebrow. "You coming?"

Ally turned to her friend and shook her head, a polite smile in place. "I think I'll stay and keep an eye on Austin. You guys go ahead." Everybody gave her a knowing look and she did her best to hide her blush but luckily for her, they all nodded and chose to go without her instead of teasing her.

"Austin, are you okay?" she asked, her fingers reaching out to touch his shoulder.

Austin stretched out and moved until he was resting his head on her lap. He tilted his head up at her and grinned tiredly with droopy eyes. "Am now," he said, lacing his fingers on his stomach.

She bent over and grimaced at his current state. "You're gross and sweaty," she said, nose wrinkling in mild distaste.

From her new position, her hair extensions fell into his face, obscuring his vision. He turned away, blinking rapidly. "And your fake hair is tickling me."

"Is it?" she asked with a smile. Grabbing a handful, she ran the ends of it over his face and down his neck as if holding a paintbrush. He laughed and grabbed at her hands to make her stop, his calloused fingers encircling her thin wrists. She listened to his protests and finally lowered her hands, dropping her hair. They grinned at each other for a long while and then with a light finger, she reached down and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. "You're going to do great tomorrow," she said in a low whisper.

"That's the plan," he said, trying to for his usual amount of confidence, but Ally wasn't fooled. She could hear the slight tremor in his voice.

Her eyes softened as she continued to study him. She knew he wasn't going to back down or forfeit the tournament so she focused on being as supportive as she could instead of trying to talk him out of it. She cleared her throat and nodded approvingly. "I know you can do it. I know you can win this."

He grinned at her, and she saw the flicker of worry disappear from his eyes. "Oh man, I can't wait to see the look on Christopher's face if I win."

She winced. "Austin, you _better_ win, I don't want to hang off his arm all evening."

"Oh, crap. I almost forgot about that," he said, pulling a face.

Ally frowned and flicked him lightly on the nose, making him turn his head. "How could you forget?" she asked, incredulous. "That was basically the entire reason why you agreed to do it."

Austin rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen. Even if I have to convince Kenzie to break his nose again." He suddenly looked devious. "You know what, me and Charlie should convince her to do that again anyway."

Ally laughed and shook her head. She leaned back, supporting herself on her hands as she smiled down at him. "You know Kenzie likes him, right?"

Austin looked surprised. "No, I didn't." He laughed a little. "But did you know that Charlie's crazy about her?"

"No, but I had a hunch." She grinned. "I like them."

He nodded with a smile. "Me, too." And then he frowned, remembering how they acted toward each other. "Too bad it's going to take them forever to figure things out," he said with a sigh.

She raised an eyebrow. "Charlie's stubborn, too?"

Austin shook his head, rolling his eyes. "More like totally stupid. I think he's scared to make the first move or something." And then he froze, realizing how closely he could relate to that. He swallowed and shifted nervously, letting his eyes drift away from hers to rest on his hands. His fingers fiddled with each other and he focused on that instead of his current predicament.

But c'mon, he wasn't _scared_ to make the first move on Ally, was he?

Oh God, who was he kidding? Up until this morning's weird burst of courage, he had been terrified. And now, sadly, he was pretty sure what left over courage he had was being thrown into this whole jousting thing.

"I think she thinks Charlie isn't interested," Ally said, frowning thoughtfully.

Austin snapped his head up. "What? That's crazy! He's definitely interested. He's, like, totally in love with her!"

Ally's eyes widened and she leaned over him again. "He said that?" she asked, mouth hanging open in surprise.

Austin expression suddenly mirrored hers as he realized his mistake. He wasn't entirely sure he was even talking about Charlie at that point. "Uh. Maybe?" he said, coughing slightly. "I mean… it was implied… sort of." His eyes darted back and forth in a demented fashion.

She seemed to have noticed his sudden bout of crazy because she looked down at him, her forehead creasing with worry. "Austin? Are you okay?"

He flushed, nodding hurriedly. "Uh-huh. Totally, totally great!" he stammered.

She eyed him strangely. "Um. Okay."

Austin cleared his throat. "So, uh, you think they'll ever get their shit together?" he asked, trying to relax and focus on Kenzie and Charlie and not… Ally and him.

"I'd like to think so." She wrinkled her nose in careful consideration. Impulsively, Austin reached up and tweaked it between his thumb and forefinger but he didn't let go. She blinked rapidly and jerked her head back. His hand followed and he snickered at her. "Austin," she said, her voice coming out nasally and exasperated, "what are you doing?"

"Dunno," he said. "Your voice sounds funny," he pointed out helpfully.

"Let go of my nose," she said, huffing slightly as she frowned down at him.

He shook his head and squeezed her nose between his fingers. Her eyes narrowed and she reached down to tickle his side. He gasped and rolled over, but instead of rolling off her lap, he purposefully rolled onto her torso, knocking her on to the ground.

At least his hand was off her nose, she thought wryly. His head and shoulders were pinning her to the ground and she grabbed a fistful of his hair, trying to gently shove him off her. "Austin, I'm about to lose serious air supply here," she said with a mild grunt.

He smacked her hand away from his hair and slithered until his torso was on top of hers, making an awkward cross shape. "No way. You started this war."

She frowned, squirming underneath him. "What wa—oh my God!" She gasped and harshly sucked in a breath as he started to tickle her sides. "You—you juh—_jerk_," she sputtered, trying to roll out from under him. "Sto—stop!" However, the giggling between each word sort of ruined the serious effect she was aiming for.

His head popped up and without stopping his tickling onslaught, he maneuvered around until he was hovering over her, his lithe fingers dancing up and down her sides mercilessly. He grinned wickedly as he watched her. "Had enough, Dawson?"

"_No_," she said, trying to sound defiant as possible despite her hysterical giggling. She knocked his hands away and kneed him in the chest, eliciting a small grunt of surprise from. With Austin slightly off guard, Ally quickly sat up and pounced on his chest, knocking him backward.

Austin landed on his back and looked up at her triumphant expression. He raised an eyebrow, nonplussed. "You do realize you weigh absolutely nothing, right?" he asked. She blinked down at him but before she could retort, he had rolled their bodies over, trapping her small one underneath him. Now he was the one looking triumphant. "Come on, Dawson, admit your defeat."

She struggled underneath him and then gave up when his heavy weight prevented her from budging even an inch. She huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. "Okay, okay," she said, winded. She pouted in defeat as she averted her gaze from his glimmering eyes. "You win."

He grinned wickedly and brought his forehead down to touch hers. "Smart decision."

She rolled her eyes. "I already admitted defeat so are you going to get off me now?"

Austin scrunched up his face in an exaggerated thoughtful expression and then shook his head. "Nah, don't think so."

Ally's mouth dropped open and she blushed violently, suddenly alert and incredibly aware of just how close their bodies were. Every intake of breath had their chests meeting even more intimately, and while she wasn't exactly complaining, she'd really like to breathe sometime soon without her breasts being uncomfortably trapped. "Austin," she said, hoping a different approach might work, "you're kinda hea—oof."

He rolled them over so she was lying on top of him. His hands reached down to clasp lightly around her waist as he grinned up at her. "This better?"

She swallowed nervously and nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Her fingers trembled slightly from where they rested on his chest. She could feel his steady heartbeat underneath a palm and idly wondered if he could feel hers, racing a mile a minute.

"Uh, are we interrupting?"

Austin and Ally froze momentarily before looking up, wide-eyed, to see Trish and Dez peering down at them. "He/she started it!" they blurted simultaneously while they disentangled themselves, their faces red and their limbs shaky.

"Right, uh-huh," Trish said with a slow nod. "And no one decided to finish it, I'm guessing."

They blushed harder and shuffled away until there was a respectable distance between their bodies. Austin looked off into the field opposite from Ally's direction and ran a hand through his hair self-consciously. Ally stared determinedly into her lap and fiddled with a strand of her fake hair.

"Well, here's your snack, buddy," Dez said with an amused grin as he handed him a turkey leg and a bottled water.

Austin saluted him with the turkey leg half-heartedly before taking a massive bite, still too embarrassed to look at Ally. He was about to take his second bite when he noticed something missing. "Hey, where are Charlie and Kenzie?"

"Oh, they're grabbing more supplies from the warehouse. Kenzie thinks it's time for you to practice with the armor," Dez answered as he sat down next to Austin.

Austin sighed. "Well, the break was nice while it lasted, I guess," he said before taking another bite.

"Hey, you think you'll be ready for tomorrow?" Dez asked with his brow creased in worry.

Austin's eyes drifted over to Ally, smiling and laughing at something Trish had said. "I'm going to have to be," he murmured, his eyes softening while he continued to watch her. As if feeling his stare on her, she turned her head slightly and her eyes met his. She looked startled for half a second but then she smiled at him, the one that was soft and beautiful and never failed to make his heart skip a beat or two.

There was no way he was going to let that creep Christopher get his dirty hands anywhere near Ally.

* * *

The armor really wasn't that heavy but it still made handling the lance trickier than before. The worst part though was the helmet, it was nearly impossible to see out of the slits so he was just grateful that you only needed to go forward in a straight shot to joust. He was getting better and the lances were breaking more often than not when he ran through the practice targets.

The thought of seeing Christopher triumphant and leering at Ally spurred him on during his training, helped him focus on getting better and faster and more accurate with his aim.

Eventually, he lost count of how many lances he'd broken and lost track of time—he barely noticed that the sun had sunk below the horizon—and yet, he kept going. His muscles were sore, the armor was starting to weigh him down, he'd finally fallen off of Al a few different times, and his hair was matted to his forehead with sweat. But he picked up another lance and headed for Al again, planning on practicing for a little longer.

"Austin, maybe you should give it a rest," a voice said behind him, soft and caring.

"I'm not tired yet," he said, shaking his head. It was a lie, even he could hear how tired he was but he shook it off. He moved for Al, but he heard a quick flurry of movement and a second later, a small hand clasped around his hand holding the lance.

"Yes, you are," she said in a firm voice. "You can't exhaust yourself before the tournament even starts. And if you're going to continue to be stubborn and try to tell me you're not tired, poor Al _is_. And he's going to be with you all day tomorrow, too, so we need to take him back to the stables." She gave him a look that held no room for an argument.

Not that he was planning on it because the second he looked at Al, he was overwhelmed with guilt. "Oh, shit," he muttered, running his hand over his face. "I didn't even—God, he's been—" He gave a ragged sigh and his posture slumped a little. "Okay, okay. You're right. I'll call it a night." He ran his hand over his face again, before scrubbing his fingers through his hair. "Did everybody go home?"

She shook her head. "Just Dez and Trish. Kenzie and Charlie are back at the warehouse." She looked hesitant and then said, "They have cots set up and they're spending the night. They're only in town for the Renaissance Faire so they didn't want to pay for a hotel. They, uh, offered us a place to stay and Kenzie said you could wake up early and practice some more if you wanted."

Austin looked like he was considering it but then grimaced as he remembered his current state. "Only if they have a shower in that warehouse," he said, raising an eyebrow.

She chuckled. "Charlie rigged something in the back. It's not that bad. Kenzie and Charlie have some extra clothes if we decide to stay and shower. Dez and Trish can bring us our clothes tomorrow."

Austin nodded. "Okay. You go shower first. I'm going to drop Al off at the stables." He noticed that she didn't agree right away and nudged her with a gentle elbow. "I promise, no more practicing. I'm going to make sure Al gets some rest and I'll meet you at the warehouse soon enough. Tell Kenzie and Charlie thanks."

Ally seemed to relax and she said, "Good. I'll tell Charlie to get you some spare clothes ready."

"Thanks, Ally." He gave her a grateful smile but she could still see how tired he was by looking into his eyes.

She bit her lip to hold back another concerned comment. She just nodded instead. "Don't worry about it. I'll see you back at the warehouse, okay?" He waved good-bye, already turning to walk out of the field with Al. She watched him go for a moment before rushing off to the warehouse.

* * *

Austin turned off the rusty showerhead and sighed, shaking his wet bangs out of his eyes. The hot shower had been nice and soothing, helping to relieve some his soreness. He stepped out of the small showering area and reached for the towel he had placed over the edge of the sink. He looked around the dingy shack where Charlie had hooked up the makeshift shower and grimaced at how small and dirty it was. He reached for the clean set of clothes his new friend had provided and changed into them, wincing every so often due to his sore muscles.

He threw the towel on his head, lazily drying his hair, and exited the shack to make his way to the warehouse. Once inside, he closed the door behind him and started toward the back of the warehouse, where the stairs were located. The room he'd be sharing with Charlie was on the second floor, right across the one Ally would be sharing with Kenzie. He focused on toweling off his wet hair when he heard a soft voice call his name. He stilled and looked up, squinting in the dark to make out Ally's form. "Hey, you're still up?"

Pale moonlight filtered in through a window high above them, making a small spotlight in the middle of the warehouse. Ally stepped into it so they could see each other better. She had changed out of her dress and into a pair of clothes that presumably belonged to Kenzie. Her hair was out of its side pony and free of the extensions, falling in pretty waves around her face. She had a soft smile on her gentle features as she looked up at him. "Yeah, I wanted to see you before we went to bed," she said.

Austin's brow wrinkled with worry as he met her in the patch of light streaming in. "Is everything okay? Is something wrong?" His eyes roamed over her face, trying to pick up any hint of her distress.

She shook her head hurriedly. "No, no! I just…" she trailed off before clearing her throat. "I wanted to tell you to get some sleep and to wish you good luck for tomorrow."

His eyes softened and he smiled at her gratefully. "Thanks, Ally, but you could have just said all that in the morning, you know," he said, teasing her lightly with a chuckle. "No need to stay up for my sake."

She rolled her eyes, a faint blush coming to her cheeks. "I know. But… I wanted to tell you before we went to bed." She looked at him dryly. "And now that I have, good night, Austin," she said, turning around on her heel.

"Whoa," he said, his long arm reaching out and catching on to her elbow. "Oh, c'mon. You know I was just kidding." He spun her around and hugged her to his chest, his arms wrapping securely around her waist as he felt her relax against him. He leaned his cheek against the top of her hair and sighed. "Thanks for always being here for me," he murmured, his eyes closing as he breathed her in. "For supporting me, for believing in me even when you don't always agree with me."

Her arms came up to complete their hug and she buried her face into the side of his neck. "Please don't get hurt tomorrow," she said, her voice light as a feather. "I don't know what I'd do if some-something were to ha—" she broke off, taking a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself down. "Just—just promise me, okay? Promise me you'll be okay after everything is over."

Austin's heart almost broke when he heard how worried she was, all because of him. "Hey, hey." His words were low and soothing in her ear. His grip tightened around her, his cheek pressed closer to her hair. "Where is this coming from?" he asked, sounding confused. "You were fine when you were teaching me how to ride Al. I thought you were okay with this."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I thought I was okay, too. But then… I saw how hard you were training today and what the dummies looked like after you ran them through with your lance and it all just seemed… more real, you know? It sort of hit me how dangerous this could be for you, I guess." She sighed. "And don't you dare think I missed those times you fell off of Al," she lectured, appropriately using her stern voice.

He winced. "Hey, at least I had my armor on for that," he protested, albeit weakly. His hands started to rub comforting circles into her skin through the thin fabric of her shirt. He heard her sigh a little and relax, so he continued. "I'm sorry I got myself into this mess," he sighed. "I hate it when I make you worry like this." He hesitated but eventually asked, "Do you want me to drop out of the tournament tomorrow?"

She tensed up in his arms and his hands stopped their ministrations. She pulled back far enough to look him in the eye. "No. I don't," she confessed, shaking her head slowly. "You've worked so hard. I can't just ask you to drop out tomorrow. It wouldn't be fair."

He brought up a hand to cup the side of her face, his thumb stroking her cheekbone. "I'd do it, anyway. If you wanted me to." His words were murmured low and his soft brown eyes bore into hers.

She looked at him in surprise. "Really?"

He nodded. "If it meant making you happy."

She frowned. "Austin, considering everything you went through today, this isn't just about me anymore. What do you want to do?"

"I want to win tomorrow." Despite how tired he was, fierce determination glimmered in his eyes.

"Then you'll win tomorrow." She said it so simply, so bluntly, it was as if she'd just rattled off one of her favorite facts.

His face broke into his trademark grin. "Then I'll win tomorrow," he repeated, dropping his forehead to hers.

They fell into a comfortable silence, their foreheads touching, their gazes locked. After a while, Ally sighed and closed her eyes.

"It's getting late," she said.

"It is," he agreed, his eyes also drifting shut.

"You're probably exhausted."

"I am, actually," he admitted with a sigh.

"You should go to bed," Ally murmured.

"Okay."

Neither of them made to move anytime soon, as the silent agreement to stay like this just a little longer hung in the air.


	3. Training ll

So, let me explain to you a thing. And that thing is that I am a liar. I'M SUCH A FUCKING LIAR. I'M SO SORRY. THERE IS NOW GOING TO BE A FOURTH PART. AND THAT WILL BE UP NEXT WEEK.

I'm also sorry that Kenzie and Charlie keep monopolizing the screen time. I didn't mean to give them so many scenes, but I seriously suck at everything. But don't you fret, little ones, there is still tons of Auslly. And to the people who aren't the seven sole Kenzie/Charlie shippers, I apologize profusely.

* * *

The next morning, Austin awoke with a start by having a heavy leg of armor dropped squarely on to his chest.

His eyes flew open as the air immediately left his lungs from the impact. "_Jesus Christ_," he rasped, sputtering. With some difficulty, he pushed it off his torso and sat up with a painful wince. It landed in his lap with a dull _thunk_.

"Oh good, you're up," Charlie said, hovering above him. His arms were crossed as he smiled down at the blond, a picture of contrived innocence.

Austin glared at him and rolled the leg off his lap, the metal clanking loudly as it hit the floor. "Yeah, no thanks to that wake-up call," he said with a grunt.

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "The girls are already up. Kenzie wants you down in the field as soon as possible for more training."

Austin groaned but nodded obediently. "Okay, okay. I'm up, I'm up."

Charlie turned around. "Meet ya down there!" he said without a backward glance as he exited the room.

Austin glared half-heartedly at the Brit's retreating back and ignored the desire to flop back onto his back and get a few more minutes of blissful sleep in. He sighed and got up to get ready for the day nonetheless.

When he finally made it downstairs, he was surprised to find Ally sitting at a table alone. "Hey."

She looked up and grinned at him. "Good morning." She tilted her head to the side. "Charlie and Kenzie are already down at the field but I wanted to wait for you."

He looked at her gratefully as he stopped by the table. "Thanks. You didn't need to do that."

She waved it off like it wasn't a big deal and then got up from her seat. "Are you ready to go?"

"Uh-huh," he said with a short nod and they started toward the doors.

"So did you sleep well last night?"

He nodded again. "Yeah, I pretty much passed out the second I hit the floor," he admitted. "My shoulders are still a little sore and my legs hurt from horseback riding, but I think I'll be okay for today."

She looked sympathetic. "Think you'll be up for some training this early in the morning?"

Austin shrugged. "Well, if Kenzie thinks it's for the best, I should probably just go for it."

"I guess you're right."

He turned to her, curious. "Do you know what she has in mind?"

Ally shook her head regretfully. "No, she wouldn't even tell Charlie. She said she'd tell us after Charlie helped her set everything up."

"Wait, should we be helping with anything? Did they need anything else from the warehouse?"

Ally shook head again. "Kenzie wants you as well rested as possible. Basically, you're not supposed to lift a finger unless it's for some extra training or for the tournament." She laughed a little. "She's making Charlie do everything, more or less."

He chuckled, before being struck with a thought. "Hey, do you know when Trish and Dez are going to get here?"

"Well, it's about 7:30—" Austin winced at the reminder of how early it was "—and the tournament starts at 11."

Austin raised an eyebrow. "Think they'll be up in time?"

Ally looked at him wryly. "If I can annoy Trish out of bed at four in the morning, I'm pretty sure a few repetitive phone calls around nine will be fine."

"And Dez?"

"Trish knows where he lives and she loves that air horn of hers."

Austin couldn't help but snicker. "Well, Dez is in for a rude awakening this morning."

"I will make exactly three phone calls to warn him after Trish wakes up. If he doesn't pick up, that's his own fault."

"Let's hope he picks up, then," Austin muttered. He took a look down at the rumpled, borrowed clothes they've both clearly slept in and grimaced. "Besides, we need a change of clothes, pronto."

Ally nodded. "Agreed." At this point, they've reached the field and were a little confused to find doubles of everything, especially two horses. But before they could wonder or question each other about it, they stopped in their tracks once they caught sight of Kenzie and Charlie in a shouting match.

"What's going on…?"

"Uh, guys?"

They were promptly ignored. Too afraid to get involved, their eyes darted between the Brits as they volleyed words back and forth.

"—really not that bad an id—"

"It's a _bloody stupid _idea, Kenz!"

"You're overreacting!"

"_I am not overreacting!_" Charlie roared, a vein popping out in the side of his neck.

Austin and Ally exchanged similar shocked expressions.

Kenzie just looked unimpressed. "Put your throbbing vein away; you're scaring the kids," she said after she finally noticed Austin and Ally's presence.

Charlie inhaled sharply and ran a hand along his scruffy jaw. "Kenz, you're not thinking this through," he said through gritted teeth.

"You know I'm right," Kenzie said, narrowing her eyes at him. "We need to see how far Austin's come along. If we want Austin to win this thing, you're going to have to let him do this."

"Let me do what?" Austin asked, confused, as he took a tentative step forward. He was still afraid of getting into the line of fire.

Charlie clenched his jaw and crossed his arms. "Kenzie wants to go up against you," he said, growling. His eyes flickered around the field and then back to Austin. "In a jousting match."

Austin's jaw dropped and Ally let out a small gasp. "Wait, what?" they sputtered. They exchanged a look of worry and then Austin spoke up again. "You… you want _us_ to joust? Me and you?" he asked, pointing between their bodies.

The doubles of everything suddenly made sense.

Kenzie raised an eyebrow. "Well, yes." She smiled at him as he paled. "Hey, think of it this way: if you beat me, then you actually stand a chance in this tournament. And if you don't… well, you can still enter the tournament but things probably won't look so good for you," she finished with a mild wince.

Ally worried her lip for a quiet moment but eventually said, "I think Kenzie has a point, Austin. And on top of that, you've only gone up against dummies; you've never had to aim for a moving target before."

Austin turned to her, his jaw hanging open. "You agree with her?"

"Well, I don't like that it's Kenzie…" Ally shifted uncomfortably and sighed. "But if you don't go up against a real opponent before the tournament, you might be ill-prepared." She shot Charlie a guilty look. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice quiet but sincere.

Charlie's jaw twitched and he didn't say anything, just nodded curtly as he took Ally's apology.

Austin exhaled slowly and shook his head ruefully. "Well, it looks like I don't really have a choice, does it?" He turned to Kenzie, plaintive. "Me and you, huh?"

Kenzie chuckled. "Yeah, kid. You and me."

Charlie mumbled a string of curses under his breath and walked away from the group, running a hand through his hair.

Austin frowned and he cast a concerned glance to Charlie's direction. "He's really pissed, huh?" He turned back to Kenzie, wincing slightly.

She blew out a hard sigh, ruffling her dark bangs slightly. "He's being more of an arse than usual today," she muttered, sounding irritated. "I'll be right back; let me go see what his bloody problem is." Austin nodded patiently and a few seconds later, she started jogging down the field to meet Charlie, calling out his name.

Halfway down the field, he turned and glared at her. "Bugger off!" he snapped, turning back to the front and continuing on his grumpy way. "_Ow._ For fuck's sake, Kenzie, what the hell?" he shouted, whirling around and rubbing the back of his head where a rock had previously bounced off it_. 'Damn her and her impeccable aim'_, he thought.

She came to a stop in front of him. "What the hell is your problem this morning?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at him. "You've seen me compete in these things before; this isn't exactly new to either of us. So why won't you let me do this?"

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Kenzie, that was different."

Her eyes narrowed even further and she put her hands on her hips, displeased with his answer. "How so?" And then she furrowed her brow. "Wait, is this about Austin? Do you want me to go easy—?"

"It's not about Austin," he muttered with an impatient wave of his hand. She gave him a look that clearly said that if he didn't continue on, she was going to punch the answer out of him so he sighed and started talking. "Look, I knew you were going to beat all those arseholes 'cause you _had_ to, okay? 'Cause if you didn't then it meant—and now, if you go up against Austin, it means that the kid's gotta win instead and—" he broke off, closing his eyes in frustration. "_Bollocks_," he muttered vehemently under his breath, running a hand over his face. "It's just—it's _bollocks_."

Her eyebrows went skyward. "Are you worried about me?" she asked, sounding baffled.

His eyes flew open and he glared at her angrily. "Of course I'm worried about you, you idiot!" he barked. "I am _always _worried about you. Christ, I was half-relieved when you were banned from the goddamn jousting tournament last year just 'cause it meant that I wouldn't have to spend an entire fuckin' day worrying about you falling off a horse and breaking something like I do _every single fuckin' time_."

Kenzie stared back at him, stunned for a long moment. And then her face split into a wide grin. "You complete _ponce_," she said with a laugh. She leaned up and pecked him lightly on the cheek. He scowled at the quick kiss but accepted it, nonetheless. She pulled away, still laughing at him. "I'm going to be fine. I promise," she said. "I always am, aren't I?" He swallowed but didn't say anything and without further ado, she flounced away, heading for Austin and Ally's direction.

He stared after her retreating back flatly. "You are going to be the death of me," he said in a gruff voice, mostly to himself. He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Get on the damn horse and get ran through; see if I care!" he yelled after her.

Kenzie grinned over her shoulder and waved at him.

* * *

"How's everything fittin'?" Charlie asked as he finished helping Austin with the suit of armor. They were in the trees down by the field, having rigged a make shift changing area with a few tarps from the warehouse. The girls were well out of sight, Ally helping Kenzie change into her own suit of armor.

"Everything fits fine," Austin said, moving experimentally in the armor. He shot him a grateful look. "Thanks."

"No problem, mate." Charlie bowed his head, suddenly looking contrite. "Oi, Austin…"

The blond looked up from bending his arm, trying to get used to the armor again. "Yeah?"

"Sorry about earlier." Austin blinked, surprised, but he stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue. Charlie sighed and shook his head. "Kenzie was right—damn woman usually is," he muttered under his breath as he rolled his eyes, "but it's… it's different when you can't cheer for your best friend to win, yeah?"

Austin nodded slowly. "I get it; you don't want to see her get hurt."

"She's completely fearless, you know," Charlie said in a low murmur. "She lost a tournament once and I practically had to drag her away, kicking and screaming, from the field."

Austin's eyes widened. "What happened?"

"She fell off her horse and dislocated her shoulder," he answered, sounding grim as he relived the memory. "And then she cried the entire ride to the hospital while I held her hand." He gave a gruff, humorless laugh. "It wasn't even from the pain; she was just utterly pissed with herself for misjudging the distance during the match."

The blond gulped, letting that little anecdote sink in. "Kenzie isn't going to go easy on me, is she?" he asked. And for the first time since he met her, he was a little afraid of what she was capable of.

"What do you reckon?" He snorted and gave Austin a dry look. "As much as it pains me to say this, don't hold back out there, mate. It'll just piss Kenzie off if you do and it'll look like you didn't learn a goddamn thing yesterday, which, as your teacher, it will piss Kenzie off _even more_."

"Definitely don't want to do that," he mumbled.

Charlie looked Austin in the eyes and said, "Look, if you can't knock Kenzie off her horse by the time the tournament starts, you may as well go home."

Austin looked somber, Charlie's words ringing in his ears, weighed down with the hard, cold truth. "Yeah, okay. I got it." He glanced at Charlie nervously. "But we'll be good no matter what happens, right?"

A corner of Charlie's lips lifted up in a half-smile and he clapped a hand on Austin's shoulder. "No hard feelings."

"Well, isn't this touching?" a voice cooed.

The boys coughed loudly and abruptly broke apart. They whipped their heads around to find Kenzie in her own suit of armor, helmet under an arm, staring at them with an amused smile. Ally popped up behind her and grinned as well.

Charlie immediately walked over to her and grabbed her wrist, pulling it straight out. "You sure everything fits okay?" he asked as he began to examine the shiny metal encasing her arm.

"I know how to put this stuff on, Charlie," she said, gently pulling her wrist out of her grasp. "Don't worry about it."

He frowned. "Yeah, but it's not your usual suit. I just wanna make sure—"

"You made it, so it's fine," she said with a shrug. She rapped her knuckles on her chest plate and grinned. "See? Perfect."

"But the other one was made _specifically _for you and—"

"Sadly, I left it at home since I didn't think I'd be jousting any time this weekend. But this one fits just as well," she cut in softly. She reached up to lightly cup the side of his face. "Charlie. If you try to worry about me one more time, I will bloody hurt you, do you hear me?" He grunted an acknowledgement and she continued. "Now would you let me go and kick Austin's arse for a few rounds, already?"

The fact that she said all of that in such a sweet tone sort of unnerved Austin. He exchanged a glance with Ally, who just shrugged in response.

Charlie sighed irritably and walked away, making Kenzie's hand fall back to her side. "Fine, you're right. Sorry."

Kenzie turned to Austin and shook her head. "He always gets like this before I enter a tournament." Austin smiled at the underlying affection in her words and looked to see Charlie's reaction.

Charlie flushed and crossed his arms uncomfortably. "Fuck off," he grunted before walking away. Kenzie snickered as she watched him walk past her. He nudged Ally and motioned with his head. "C'mon then, let's grab us some seats and watch these two play with their big sticks."

"Can you hang on just one second?" she asked.

"Sure," he said, leaning against a tree patiently. He smirked a little playfully at her. "Gonna wish your boy good luck?"

Ally blushed a light pink from the teasing comment. "Something like that," she mumbled as she walked around Charlie and Kenzie to make her way to Austin. She stopped in front of Austin and smiled up at him.

A slow, dopey grin spread across his features as he looked down at her. "Hey," he murmured.

"Come on, let's give the two some privacy," Kenzie whispered, pulling on Charlie's arm.

"What for?" he scoffed. "They're just sayin'—" and here, he adopted a similar dopey expression and made his voice breathy, "—'_hey_'. Where's the need for privacy in—_ow_, alright, fine."

The two quickly made their exit, with Charlie being dragged by his ear, leaving the younger teens alone.

"So what are you thinking right now?" she asked, looking at him curiously.

"That I really don't want Kenzie to land me in the hospital; it might put a damper on the weekend and a pause on our friendship."

Ally bit back a smile but then rested a hand on his forearm, the metal of his armor cool to the touch. He looked down, suddenly regretting his protective gear because he couldn't even feel her comforting hand on him. "Hey, Kenzie wouldn't be doing this if she didn't think you couldn't handle it."

"Remind me to thank her for that vote of confidence," he said dryly.

She chuckled briefly before giving him a supportive smile. "Austin, you can do this."

He relaxed a little, grateful to have her by his side. "I'm glad you're here," he murmured. "You always keep me from freaking out," he said with a chuckle.

She raised an eyebrow. "You know you do the same for me on a near weekly basis, right?"

Austin laughed. "Well, I wasn't going to say anything…"

She grinned and grabbed his hand, glad that she managed to help ease his nerves, even if it was just a little. "Come on, we shouldn't keep them waiting."

* * *

"Alright, we're going to play this like it's an official match. You remember all the tournament rules?"

Austin nodded, obviously nervous. "We can't lower the lance until we've passed those markers." He pointed to flags that Charlie had set up to help mark the field before continuing. "We get four passes. And the point system goes like this: one for hitting the opponent with the lance in the left shoulder, five if the lance breaks, and… ten points if they fall off the horse. But you can't combine points from a lance making contact or breaking with the person falling off a horse. Whoever ends up with the most points will advance to the next round after all four passes are completed in one match," he recited.

She gave him a quick nod to confirm all of that. "And how long do you have to get back on the horse if you fall off?" she drilled.

"Two minutes."

"Charlie has a timer; but stay on your horse just in case," she said with a smirk.

Austin gulped at the near feral look in her eye.

"You have about three hours to knock me off my horse," she said. "Now come on."

With a final nod, she put on her helmet and got up on her horse, Austin following suit. He eyed his horse uncertainly before getting on because, sadly, he wasn't Al. Al was still in the stables, resting up until the tournament. Most of the contestants coming in would be accompanied by their own horses but the Renaissance Faire did have a good number of horses in the stables that were trained for the tournament in case the contestants didn't have their own horses.

After handing them each a lance, Charlie walked back and joined Ally on the bench. Silently, they both watched their friends prepare for the first pass by riding down to the opposite ends of the field.

"Well, this is it," Ally murmured, biting nervously at her bottom lip.

Charlie nodded, his lips set in a grim line as his eyes flicked from jouster to jouster. "You might wanna cover your ears, Ally." She blinked, confused by the suggestion, but did it nonetheless. Charlie stood up, cupped his hands around his mouth, and bellowed, "_Three, two, one, GO_," at the top of his lungs.

Ally winced from the volume but her eyes were glued to the field as Kenzie's horse started galloping at full speed right at Austin. But he was too slow and Kenzie struck first, breaking her lance and earning five points. She felt torn between wanting to cheer for Kenzie and being concerned for Austin and his lack of experience.

Charlie got up and dutifully handed Kenzie another lance before her horse circled around the field and back to the starting point for the second pass. Ally silently prayed for Austin but it was starting to look hopeless as Kenzie was awarded another five points.

"He's not doing very well," Charlie said gruffly before he handed Kenzie her third lance.

Ally's heart sank and she tried to remind herself that he had three hours to get better. Charlie signaled the start of the third pass and Austin seemed better prepared for this one; his horse started galloping at the same time as Kenzie's, anyway. He lowered the lance around the same time as hers and, to Ally's surprise and awe, he struck first this time, breaking the lance. Ally stood up, beaming excitedly as she cheered for Austin.

Charlie chuckled, looking at Ally with amusement. "Sweetheart, Kenz still has him beat by five points," he pointed out, but not unkindly, as he raised an eyebrow at her.

She simmered down and sat back on the bench, looking at him with a sheepish smile. "Well, yeah… but… he finally got some points!" Charlie smirked at her, still amused. "You know, you can celebrate little victories, too," she said, trying to keep her voice from sounding too meek or defensive.

Charlie laughed and told her he'd be right back as he jogged over to Austin with a lance in hand. Ally grinned from her seat when she saw the older teen give the younger one a proud pat on the arm as he passed it over to him. When he sat back down, he turned to Ally. "So if Austin manages to break his lance again, at least it'll be a tie."

Ally nodded, brow furrowing as she focused on Austin. "A tie won't be so bad, right? At least that's promising, right?" She winced at how jittery her voice sounded but she couldn't help it, she was nervous and she wanted Austin to play well. And safely, of course.

He nodded slowly. "I suppose," he said in a thoughtful tone. "It means Austin might be able to hold his own," he says with a shrug. "But I know Kenzie will want to keep pushing him until he gets better or she reckons he's a lost cause."

Ally's eyes widened. "She doesn't think that, does she? She can't!"

"Whoa, slow down there, Ally," he said in a soft tone, quickly trying to placate her. "Of course she doesn't think that. She sees potential in Austin and she'll wait until the three hours is up before she makes a final assessment."

Ally nodded, trying to soothe her frazzled nerves, but by the end of the fourth round, they were even more frazzled than ever; Kenzie ended up knocking Austin off his horse.

Without a moment's hesitation, Charlie and Ally were sprinting over to the fallen teen, shouting at him to get up or give some sign that he was okay. An armored arm shot up, waved about pathetically to answer their inquiries, and then fell to the ground again. Despite the less than promising display of health, Ally found herself breathing better.

Austin pulled off his helmet to breathe a little better and then groaned, still lying on the grass as he stared up at them. "Ow…" he grunted with a painful wince.

"Oh, thank goodness you're okay," Ally muttered, a hand flying to her chest. And then she glared at him, her hands on her hips. "Jesus, Austin, don't scare me like that!"

"So sorry," he croaked sarcastically.

Charlie crossed his arms as he studied him. "Didn't ya learn anything yesterday?" he asked, vaguely annoyed. Austin's head lifted off the ground and he shot him a heated glare but then he winced and flopped back onto the ground.

Seconds later, Kenzie was over, panting slightly. She looked apologetic but not guilty. "You're alive and well?" Austin grunted an utterly pitiful response. "Good, good! Well, c'mon then, get up. You lost this match so let's start another," she said in a chipper voice. "Oh, by the way, your third pass was much better. For a second, I thought you were going easy on me but it looks like you're still trying to get the hang of things. You need to stop hesitating so much and pay attention to when the pass starts. And focus a bit more on your aim, Austin, but I think you're getting there!" she advised with a wide smile before she turned around and jogged back to her horse.

Charlie tilted his head to the side as he regarded Austin's limp body. "You've got a long ways to go, mate."

"Thanks for the reminder," he muttered, letting his eyes drift shut.

* * *

A few matches later, Kenzie was still winning all of them, but the gap between points was getting smaller. The closest match so far was 11-10. Kenzie struck Austin first but the lance hadn't broken. Austin then broke his lance twice. He had really, really thought he was going to win that time. And then she ended up knocking him off his horse again during the fourth pass.

They finished another match, 7-5, and Kenzie called for a break. She looked fine, if not a little flushed and breathless, while Austin looked sweaty and tired and sore. He glared at her as she caught a water bottle from Charlie and drank gracefully from it.

Ally looked at him sympathetically and carefully handed him his own water bottle. "I think you're getting better," she said, trying to give him an encouraging smile.

He grunted, twisting off the cap viciously. He chugged the water greedily and half the bottle dribbled down his chin. He stopped drinking and grimaced at his own messiness, quickly wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "This _sucks_," he muttered. "At this rate, there's _no way_ I'm going to be good enough to do the tournament." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "God, maybe I shouldn't even bother."

Ally's eyes flashed and she poked him in the chest. "Hey. That sounds like quitter's talk."

His brow furrowed and he looked at her, perplexed. "Quitter's talk?"

"Yeah!" she said with a curt nod. "The talk of quitters."

"Right," he said, slowly, as if he were merely agreeing with her to keep her from losing her sanity.

"Austin Monica Moon—"

"Oi, your middle name's Monica?" Charlie cut in with a howl of laughter. "Holy shit, that's fuckin' priceless."

Austin flushed and glared at Ally. "You can keep all of my secrets _except_ my most embarrassing one? Really?"

"Austin! Will you focus?" she demanded, scowling in frustration. "Austin, you have worked way too much and way too hard to give up now, to give up before the tournament _even starts_. You are not a quitter. You've never been a quitter since the day we've met and you're not going to be one now, either, do you hear me?" She put her hands on her hips. "Kenzie's good, probably the best, but so what? Even if you can't beat her before 11:00, you can still at least _try_ to do the tournament, you know. The odds might not be good, but you've beaten the odds before."

"Yeah?" he said, suddenly defensive. "And what odds were those?"

Her eyes bore into his, glittering with determination to make him see reason, to see what she saw in him. "When you became an overnight internet sensation. When you got your songs played on the radio. When you went after your dreams and got a record deal before you turned seventeen." She reached up and cupped the sides of his face, bringing him down to her eye level. "Austin, you can do _anything_ and if you want this—if you want to win this bad enough, you'll get this, too." And then her eyes softened, her gaze flitting back and forth as she studied his shocked, wide-eyed expression. "Do you know why?"

He gulped. "Why?" he whispered hoarsely.

"Because you're amazing and you're incredible. _Because_, Austin Moon, because I believe in you and I've never, ever seen you fail at anything. And I'm not about to see that now, got it?"

Austin stayed silent, his eyes still wide, but then her words sank in, and his head fell forward, his bangs skimming across her forehead. He chuckled a little and when their gazes locked again, the fear of defeat was gone, replaced by the familiar spark of life that regularly occupied his brown eyes. "I think you're forgetting every art and crafts attempt you've seen me do," he said, smirking at her.

She grinned, thrilled to see Austin, _her_ Austin, smirking and joking once again after a moment of self-doubt. "Hey," she said with a shrug, "Not all of us have the craft to craft."

"That's, like, the worst arts and craft motto, ever." And then he gathered her up in his arms, holding her against him in an embrace. Her hands left his cheeks so her arms could wrap around his neck to reciprocate the hug. He wanted to hold her as tightly as possible, but he was afraid the armor might hurt her so he held her loosely and quickly let go before he was tempted to strengthen his grip around her. And then he swooped down and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. "Thank you," he said, moving his lips to murmur into her ear. "That's exactly what I needed to hear." He pulled away completely, a boyish grin in place, before jogging over to Kenzie, telling her he was ready to go again.

Ally stared after him, stunned, as her fingers reached up to ghost over the faint tingling sensation his kiss had left behind. And then she smiled to herself as she watched Austin soak in every single word of Kenzie's advice, the determination to get better settling into his features.

* * *

The match right after Ally's pep talk resulted in the first tie of the day, the score being 10-10. Kenzie was incredibly pleased as she sidled up next to Austin on her horse. She took off her helmet and grinned at him. "Good job," she said. "That was probably your best yet."

He took off his helmet to look at her, shaking his head. "Not good enough," he said. "I want to win a match," he said, fierce determination coloring his voice.

Her eyebrows shot up. "Alright then," she murmured, starting to smirk. "Let's see you try."

Their gazes locked for a tense second and then she was gone, passing Charlie for a new lance and going back to the end of the field. Austin waited until Charlie handed him a new lance as well and then rode his horse to the opposite end.

During the first pass, Kenzie's lance struck him, but Austin had managed to lean and tilt his torso enough that the impact wasn't straight on, resulting in an unbroken lance and one measly point.

The second pass, Austin rode determinedly, eyes narrowing in his focus to strike first. He did and felt a wave of triumphant as the lance broke, rewarding him five points. He didn't want to get too far ahead of himself; he'd been in the lead before and still got his ass handed to him.

The third pass, Kenzie knocked him off his horse. He was up half a second later and back on his horse before she'd even circled around the field. He gritted his teeth, now she was ahead by six points.

It was the final pass and when he heard Charlie's go ahead, he rode with everything he had. He lowered his lance about a second earlier than she did, but that second was enough as he evaded the tip of her lance as much as he could and struck her in the shoulder, doing his best to torque his wrist for maximum impact.

The lance broke and his heart sank as he realized that only brought his total score to ten, making her win by another point. But then, her body didn't right itself after the hit. Austin watched, numb with shock, as Kenzie's body slumped to the side and fell off her horse. He immediately came to a halt and jumped off, taking off his helmet and throwing it to the side as he sprinted over to her body. Charlie was already there by her side, shouting at her.

Austin swallowed guiltily, fighting the urge to throw up from the thought of having hurt his friend. "Kenzie…?" he whispered, wondering why it was taking her so long to get back up. Winning the match was the furthest thing on his mind as he watched Charlie take off Kenzie's helmet, calling her a bloody idiot as he cupped the back of her head and held her in his lap. Ally wasn't far behind, her hands covering her mouth as she watched, the worry apparent in her eyes.

Kenzie cracked an eye open and winced. "Hey, hey," she said, reaching up to pat Charlie's cheek. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she said, sounding a bit breathless. "I just… I landed on my bad shoulder, is all." She smiled at him weakly. "Oh, don't look at me like that. You've seen me go through worse." She mustered up the energy to roll her eyes at him, exasperated.

He swallowed. "It never gets any easier, Kenz." But he sighed in relief and helped her sit up, only letting go when her smile returned full force.

"Austin," she said, her eyes lighting up excitedly. "You were amazing. And terrifying, my God, but amazing. I think you're ready. I think you've got a great chance of winning," she gushed, looking at him with pride.

Austin dropped to his knees and gave her a huge hug. "I'm sorry," he said, sounding ridden with guilt.

She laughed and patted him on the back affectionately with her good arm. "Hey, I've knocked you off your horse more than a fair amount this morning. It was going to be my turn eventually." They ended the hug and she continued to grin at him. "I'm so proud of you."

Austin laughed. "Yeah, but you taught me everything." And then he turned to Ally, smiling at her. "And Ally's the one that gave me the push I needed."

"Hey, you've always been there to do the same for me." But she didn't dwell on him for too long, as she turned to Kenzie, still worried. "Kenzie, are you sure—"

"Yes, I'm fine!" she laughed, standing up quickly. A bit too quickly, it seemed, as she swayed and pressed a hand to her forehead. Charlie was up in an instant, letting her lean against him. "Sorry," she said apologetically, "Stood up just a teensy bit too quick." She gave them all a sheepish grin. "No need to worry, I promise."

Charlie rolled his eyes and started to drag her to the bench. "Come sit down," he ordered.

"Charlie, I'm—oh, alright. If it'll keep you from fussing." She rolled her eyes as he shot her a withering glare. She sighed but let him lead her to the bench to take a break.

Austin watched them as they collapsed on the bench, Kenzie leaning her head on Charlie's shoulder, looking exhausted. He felt another pang of guilt so he turned back to look at Ally. He grimaced. "I know I won… but I hope I never have to see Kenzie on the ground like that again." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Holy shit, I felt like I was going to throw up when she didn't get up right away."

Ally nodded in agreement. "I was even more scared when it was you, though," she admitted quietly. "But you always got up so quickly and—" she shuddered. "Oh my God, poor Charlie, I can't even imagine what must have been going through his mind," she murmured as she watched the two on the bench.

As if the Brits were suddenly aware of their little audience, they looked up and saw Austin and Ally's sympathetic expressions. They immediately straightened and inched away from each other.

Kenzie rolled her eyes. "Stop looking at me like that!" she shouted. "Austin just won his first match and you're looking at me like I may never walk again. If you two do not stop it right this instant to hug and celebrate Austin's winning match, I am going to throw my helmet at the both of you."

Austin chuckled and shook his head. "Well?" he asked, opening his arms up.

She bit her lip, finally letting the excitement from his win rush into her at Kenzie's approval. She leapt into his arms but gave a shriek of surprise when he picked her up by the waist and spun her around excitedly, high above him.

She shrieked again, her arms flailing at her sides uselessly before coming down to grip his shoulders. "Austin! Put me down!" she said in between peals of laughter as he spun her faster and faster.

"No way! I just beat Kenzie! And now I'm gonna win this tournament and it's gonna be awesome!" Austin grinned, looking up at her as she threw her head back and laughed even louder. "Are you dizzy yet?"

"Yes! Now put me down."

"Too bad!"

Eventually, after her laughter had petered out, he gently lowered her back to the ground, his hands never leaving her waist. She stared up at him, breathless, as she found her footing. Her cheeks were flushed with laughter and she was panting slightly from all the laughing. Her eyes were sparkling up at him and she gave him a wide grin.

"See? I told you you could do it."

He rolled his eyes at the smug undertones in her statement. "Thank you."

She laughed. "You were amazing, you know. And you beat her, 15-11. That's not too bad."

"Not too bad?" He frowned. "I was 'amazing', like, a second ago."

She bit back a grin. "Come on, we can't stand here all day, you have a tournament to get ready for."

Austin grip around her waist tightened for a second before he reluctantly let go. "You're right. And I am in desperate need of a shower after all of Kenzie's training."

Ally laughed as he grimaced. "Back to the warehouse?" He nodded. "Good, I'll call up Trish and Dez, too."

* * *

Later, Dez and Trish arrived at the warehouse, already in costume for the day. Trish in a long, flowing and simple dress. Dez, on the other hand, looked ridiculous as a court jester, to the surprise of no one. Kenzie and Charlie were busy packing up Austin's suit of armor and getting other supplies ready for the tournament since they were providing the lances and extra armor. Ally had been helping them as much as she could but when she saw her friends, they gave her the go ahead to join them.

"Hey, guys. Austin's in the back, taking a shower." She turned to Dez. "Did you bring him his clothes?"

Dez nodded, holding up his backpack. "I'll just leave these out there for him," he said as he left the warehouse.

"So, Ally," Trish started once Dez had walked away.

Ally turned back to her and raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I didn't bring you your clothes."

Ally's jaw slid open and she looked down at her borrowed sleeping clothes in frustration. They were baggy and ill-fitting on her and while comfortable to sleep in, she doubted she'd want to spend the entire day in them. And while she knew Kenzie wouldn't mind if she asked, she was positive that there was no way she'd be able to fit into the taller and more athletic girl's everyday clothes. She sighed, sounding beyond exasperated. "I can't believe this. Why didn't you—?"

"Because I brought you _this_," Trish interrupted with a smirk as she hefted a ginormous and full duffle bag onto the table she was leaning on. She quickly pulled out a black garment bag on a hanger for her friend. "There's clean underwear in there, too." In a rare example of showing tact, she had lowered her voice to a quiet whisper.

Ally blushed but was thankful for that in the very least. Still, she couldn't help but look at the proffered garment bag with some degree of suspicion. "What… is it, exactly?" she asked, taking it gently from her friend's hands.

"Another medieval dress," Trish said, still smirking. "You've got to cheer for Austin and celebrate his win in the appropriate style, right?"

Ally blinked in surprise. And then she laughed, her face breaking into a wide grin. "Thanks, Trish." She gave her a quick hug and ran up the stairs to get changed.

"I'm helping you with your hair extensions when I'm done with Austin!" she called loudly. Ally's thanks floated down to her and she grinned, satisfied.

A few moments later, Austin finally sauntered into the warehouse after his quick shower, toweling off his wet hair. Dez had left his underclothes, a tank top and a clean pair of boxers, for him outside the little showering shed, which he was thankful for because he really didn't want to be parading around his friends in nothing but a towel.

"Good. You're here. Here are your clothes," Trish said, throwing them at him haphazardly.

He blinked in confusion, but caught them easily. "Hey, Trish?" he said after a long beat of silence.

"Yeah?" she asked, sounding distracted while she rifled through her duffle bag.

"Uh, these aren't my clothes…" Austin said, frowning at the authentic men's costume in his hands. "This… it looks like what Christopher wore yesterday. But even better," he said, his voice a low murmur of awe as he fingered the slightly ruffled shirt. "Whoa! Are those leather armbands?" he asked, excited, as he watched her pull them out of her duffle bag.

"Uh-huh," she said, throwing them at him without any sort of warning.

He caught those just as easily. His brow furrowed in confusion as he looked back and forth between the clothing items. "But… what's all this for?"

Trish snorted and put her hands on her hips. "Look, you can't go around looking like a peasant if your opponent is that well-dressed bag of dicks," she said, rolling her eyes. "So you're gonna march out there looking like you belong in the medieval era—you gotta look good on the field _and_ off the field—and then you're gonna win the whole tournament and rub it in his face."

He grinned at her. "You borrowed all this from the costume department for me?"

She nodded. "Yep. Now get changed!" she ordered. Austin gave her a quick side hug and thanked her before running up the stairs into one of the rooms.

"Kenzie? Charlie?" The older teens looked up from where they were working in the corner of the room and walked over, curious. "I got some extra costumes for you, too," Trish said, trying to sound as enticing as possible as she held up a deep, green dress, protected in a clear garment bag, in one hand and an outfit similar to Austin's in the other.

Charlie shook his head. "No thanks. Considering our accents, if you stick us in those things, we just become fuckin' main attractions."

Kenzie nodded with a polite smile. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to side with Charlie on this." Her smiled turned slightly apologetic. "That dress really is lovely, though. Thank you."

Trish shrugged and shoved the outfits back into the duffel. "Suit yourselves," she said.

"Kenz doesn't do dresses," Charlie supplied. He frowned thoughtfully. "Christ, Kenz, I can't even remember the last time I even saw you in a dress."

Kenzie took a deep, calming breath and then said, rather flatly, "We were sixteen. And then you saw the inside of a rubbish bin."

"Ah, that's right," he said, realization dawning on him. And then he frowned. "Oi, I remember that; that was rather uncalled for." He met Kenzie's annoyed stare with a hard look of his own.

Trish raised an eyebrow and looked between them before rolling her eyes and walking upstairs. "I'm gonna go do Ally's hair."

Kenzie brushed past Charlie with a half-hearted glare, telling him, "I'm taking my shower now."

Charlie rolled his eyes but relaxed now that there was finally some peace and quiet in the warehouse. Sadly, he didn't even have much time to appreciate the quiet because moments later, Dez cleared his throat and surreptitiously inched his way closer to Charlie before tapping him lightly on the shoulder.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" he drawled.

"So… you know, I've been practicing the language of your people—"

"It's the same language, you twit."

"—and I just wanna know if maybe you could listen and give me some pointers," Dez finished, looking at him with eyes shiny and full of hope.

Charlie made a face like he was going to decline but then quickly thought better of it. "Sure, why the hell not?" he said, crossing his arms. "Go on, then, have at it."

Dez cleared his throat and started to warm up with some ridiculous vocal exercises that he may or may not have learned from Ally.

"I will give Kenzie a lot of money to punch you if you do not stop."

Dez immediately stopped and coughed daintily into his hand, which made Charlie roll his eyes. "Cor blimey! Cheerio! How 'bout 'em bangers and mash, eh, mate?"

"That was really good," Charlie said, sounding impressed.

"Really?!" Dez asked, practically glowing from the compliment.

"Oh, yeah," Charlie said with a nod. "You sounded just like you've been speaking with an American accent for sixteen, seventeen years and then tried to learn a British accent in a few short minutes."

"Tha—wait a minute." Dez's toothy grin immediately dropped. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Charlie. "I can't tell whether that was a thinly veiled insult or not."

Charlie just shot the redhead his most charming smile.

* * *

Austin finished getting dressed first and he was on his way down the stairs when Trish opened the door across from him and stepped out to join him in the hallway.

Trish grinned and gave Austin a nod of approval. "Good, you look even better than Christopher."

Austin preened and stood up straighter, happy with the praise. "Thank you," he said with a light laugh. He nodded toward the room she'd just exited. "Ally still getting ready? We're gonna have to meet outside the battlefield soon for the tournament. Contestants have to show up early."

Trish snorted, amused. "Battlefield? That's a bit dramatic, isn't it?"

He shrugged. "That's what Kenzie calls it. Apparently, that's what it was called back then."

Trish appeared thoughtful and then shrugged as well. "Learn something new every day, I guess." She jerked a thumb at the door behind her. "Ally's almost done. She's decent if you wanna see her."

Austin turned pinked and nodded his thanks. He waited until Trish was out of view and knocked lightly on the door anyway, just in case. "Ally? It's me. Can I come in?" After he heard her okay, he opened the door and walked in.

And was stunned into silence. The dress she had on really wasn't much different than yesterday, except it was all red with no gold accents, but it was more regal looking, making Ally look impossibly elegant. The entire thing was made of crushed velvet and looked soft to the touch, and it really wasn't helping the fact that he already wanted to reach out and touch her. His fingers twitched and he quickly crossed his arms to keep himself from doing something stupid. Or inappropriate.

She looked equally surprised as her eyes roamed up and down the length of his body. But then they stopped on his wrists and she laughed, walking over to grab his arm. She held it up and raised an eyebrow. "Did you have trouble with these?" she asked.

He pouted. "It's hard to lace them up with one hand!"

She looked down at the loose, barely laced leather armbands and shook her head. "Uh-huh," she said absently as she went about fixing it for him. "Jeez, Austin, it's a wonder how you ever get dressed; I have to fix your ties or your bowties half the time." She shot him another amused look once she finished tying up the leather band on his right arm. "And pick out your shoes for you."

He blushed a little, switching arms when she was done. "Yeah, but you always make me look good so I can't complain."

She paused in re-lacing the armband, looking up to see his appreciative smile. She smiled back and then finished quickly, tying the loose ends into a quick bow. Then she glanced up and eyed him critically, fixing the ruffle of his shirt and brushing his bangs to the side and smoothing down some cowlicks. "There, finished!" she said, beaming at him. "But, um, _wow_," she murmured, taking in his attire now that everything was perfect. She blinked a little and then looked at him, grinning widely. "You look _really_ good in these clothes."

"Really?" he asked, raising a pleased eyebrow.

She nodded. "Almost as good as the armor."

Austin's smirk widened, quickly turning smug. "I knew it! I _knew_ you liked the armor." His eyebrows waggled at her and she didn't know whether to laugh or roll her eyes. "I mean, how can ladies resist a man in armor?"

"See? This is why I can't give you compliments." This time, she did roll her eyes. "Because of your ego." She mimed an explosion, complete with a surprisingly decent sound effect. Austin was pretty sure she learned that one from Dez.

He scoffed, amused. "And what, I should take compliments while blushing and stuttering?"

Her brow furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Austin walked closer to her, until he was in her personal space. She frowned, about to ask him what he thought he was doing but the words quickly flew out of her mind when he cupped a hand around her cheek, his fingers landing softly in her hair. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped open. "Ally, you look absolutely gorgeous today," he murmured, as sincerely as possible. Not that it took much effort since he believed it with every fiber of his being.

She flushed and opened and closed her mouth a few times. "Uh, um." She winced as she heard herself stammer.

Austin's hand dropped away and he smirked, taking a full step back to give her some air. "Use your words," he said with a teasing lilt, "I think what you're looking for is '_Thank you_'."

Ally fumed, glaring at him. "That wasn't fair! You were—you were all over me!" she protested.

Austin laughed, loud and bright, and she turned another few shades of red. "I'd apologize but… I like seeing you all cute and flustered."

She rolled her eyes and then shot him an impatient look. "Well, did you come in here just to see me all embarrassed or was there an actual reason?"

Remembering the time and the tournament, he quickly turned serious. "Yeah, sorry. The tournament starts soon and we should probably get going."

Ally nodded. "Okay," she murmured, sounding nervous.

Austin nodded as well and then they lapsed into a heavy silence. After a while, he cleared his throat and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Um, I guess… I guess I'll just meet you down there, then." He turned to go but stopped when he felt small fingers latch around his forearm. He looked down at her, brow scrunching in concern. "Ally…?"

She looked up at him, a faint smile gracing her features, and he felt his heart speeding up from the lovely sight. "I guess this is it, huh?" she murmured, threading her fingers through his. She swallowed nervously, looking down at their entwined hands briefly before meeting his eyes again. "I'm going to be with you every step of the way, okay?"

Austin smiled, looking down at her gratefully. "Thanks, Ally," he said, his voice going soft. He brought their hands up, his lips brushing a gentle kiss across the back of her knuckles.

Her breath hitched slightly in her throat as she felt the caress of his lips on her skin. When he swung their hands back down to their sides, her fingers squeezed his tightly, a silent promise that she wasn't going to let go any time soon.


	4. The Tournament

Arrrrgh. Come back again next week for (HOPEFULLY) the conclusion?

* * *

"Name, lad?"

"Moon, Austin Moon."

The middle-age man running the check-in table for the jousting tournament looked up, astonished. "No shit?" he asked, his accent having suddenly disappeared.

Austin furrowed his brow. "Uh, no shit, sir. I'm really Austin Moon," he answered with an awkward nod.

"My daughter loves you!" he cried, grinning. He cleared his throat and his next words were accented again. "Terribly sorry, but do you mind?" He held out a piece of paper and offered the teen idol a pen.

"No problem." Austin smiled, scribbling down a quick autograph. "Who should I make it out to?"

As they continued to converse about his daughter, Kenzie and Charlie turned to Ally, thoroughly confused.

"Austin's… famous?" Kenzie asked.

"Well," Ally started slowly, "his first album did really well and his first tour sold out at almost every venue so, uh, he's definitely well-known?"

Charlie snapped his fingers. "I _knew_ I'd heard that name somewhere." He shook his head in disbelief. "Christ, they play 'Better Than This' over the goddamn radio all the time."

Kenzie perked up. "Oh! I know that song!" She turned to Ally. "It's quite catchy."

Ally laughed. "Thanks. I wrote it, but Austin's an amazing singer."

She looked impressed. "Wow, aren't you two a talented lot." Her smile might have been teasing but her compliment was sincere.

Ally blushed and murmured a soft, "Thank you."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "So you're telling me that Kenz just spent her weekend teaching a teen celebrity, one who has played _sold out concerts_, how to joust?" He shook his head. "That's utterly mad."

"What's 'utterly mad'?" Austin asked, finally finished at the check-in table. He looked apologetic. "Sorry, I asked about his daughter and then he pulled out pictures and I didn't know how to get out of the conversation without sounding rude so I just sat through most of them until somebody else needed to sign in."

Kenzie gave him an accusatory glance. "You didn't tell us you were famous!"

Austin blinked. "What?"

"They play your bloody songs over the radio all the fuckin' time, mate." Charlie's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "All. The. _Fuckin'_. Time."

"Okay, one, you never asked," he said, looking at Kenzie before turning to Charlie with a raised eyebrow. "And two, I don't control the radio. So you can't be mad at me for that one."

"Oh, don't mind him," Kenzie said cheerily. "He likes to sing 'Better Than This' when he's drunk."

Charlie whirled on her, smacking her on the shoulder with the back of his hand. "Oi! One time, that happened. _One. Time_."

Kenzie stifled a laugh. "You two should have seen it, it was a beautiful rendition."

"Alright, that's it," Charlie muttered. He glared at the younger teens, both doing poor attempts of keeping a straight face. "_I_ am going to grab something to eat. Meet me at the table once you're done embarrassing me," he said, directing his glare at Kenzie.

Kenzie gave him her most disarming smile, which made his eyes narrow slightly in response. "Charlie, you've lived a wonderful life full of great memories and proud moments, completely free of shameful regret so what could I ever say to embarrass the likes of yourself?"

He rounded on Austin and Ally. "For future reference, everything she says about me is a lie." He stormed off, cursing under his breath.

"Tell Dez and Trish we'll be there in a minute," Ally called after him. He waved at her without turning around to signal that he'd heard her. Once he was out of earshot, she turned to Kenzie and giggled. "'Better Than This', huh?"

"I mean, he's no _Austin Moon_," Kenzie cut her eyes over to the pop star and he looked a little bashful and she grinned before continuing, "but Charlie's not a bad singer."

Austin chuckled a little. "I'm flattered."

Kenzie tilted her head at Austin, turning a little bit more serious. "So, you're checked in and everything, right?" He nodded. "And when's your first match?"

Austin held up a little card and said, "11:40. There's one every ten minutes, apparently."

Kenzie nodded. "There are going to thirty-one matches by the end of the day, according to the roster. And since the event celebrating the winner starts at six, we have to get through the tournament relatively fast. Not that a match takes very long, anyway." She turned inquisitive. "Who's your first opponent?"

He read off the card. "Somebody named… 'Sean Derby'."

Kenzie snorted and rolled her eyes. "Oh, Derby's a complete ponce. You'll beat him, easy." At their curious glances, she elaborated. "We had a match at a different tournament a few months back; unhorsed him _twice_ and made him cry." She grinned at him encouragingly. "You'll advance to the next round no problem, I'm sure of it." She started walking and gestured for them to follow. At the end of the field, between the two audience stands, there was a huge board with the names of all the contestants.

"There's Christopher," Kenzie said, pointing to the right side of the board. "And you're right here," she said, tapping a finger to his name on the left, toward the middle. "So there's no way you can compete against Christopher unless you both make it to the finals, meaning both of you have to win all four of your matches."

"Think there's any chance of him losing any of his matches before then?" he asked hopefully.

A low laugh sounded behind them and they whirled around to find the very devil they were speaking of. "Oh, that's rich," he chuckled. "As a matter of fact, I don't know what's funnier, you a_ctually _showing up today or you thinking I'm going to lose this tournament." He smirked condescendingly. "I suppose it's rather gallant of you, if not immensely foolish."

Austin gave him a flat stare. "That's me; the gallant fool."

Christopher sized him up with a disdainful once over and drawled, "So I see you've updated your wardrobe."

The irony that the 'update' Christopher was referring to consisted of clothes worn in an entirely different era from the past didn't go unnoticed by Austin. "Yeah, I'm no longer dressed like a lowly peasant, thank you for noticing."

Christopher rolled his eyes, but turned his attention over to Ally, who immediately stiffened under his gaze. Turning on the charm, he smiled at her and inclined his head. "Ally, you look absolutely ravishing. Why am I not surprised?"

Austin scowled, not liking the way he was looking at her, but Ally's hand on his forearm calmed him enough to keep his mouth shut.

"Thank you," she said curtly, her lips set in a firm line. She had barely fallen for his charm the first time around and now that his true colors were starting to show, she sure as hell wasn't going to fall for it now.

"You know, it's not too late to join the rightful winner," he said with a beguiling smile. "We can have a lot of fun tonight celebrating my victories together."

"I'd much rather celebrate with Austin, since he'll be the one winning, after all," Ally said with a sweet smile.

His eyes flashed dangerously, and Austin tensed, about to move, but Kenzie quickly slid in front of her. "Christopher, still harassing girls, I see," she said, her eyes narrowing just as dangerously, "Remember what happened the last time you did that? Or do you need a friendly reminder?"

Austin relaxed, grateful for Kenzie's presence, but moved closer toward Ally, anyway. He glanced to her, and saw her at her full height, glaring down Christopher as best she could. He had to bite back a grin as he felt his chest swelling with pride from seeing her refusing to back down.

Christopher hesitated, before quickly sliding on a smarmy expression. "Ah, Kenzie," he said, tightly. "You look… well."

"And so do you. Let's not change that any time soon," she said. Her obvious threat hung heavily in the air. Luckily, Christopher was smart enough to take a step back, most likely replaying their previous encounter where she had broken his nose.

His eyes cut over the three of them and he snorted, shaking his head in disbelief. "My, what a merry band of misfits you lot make," he muttered. "Fine, then." He turned to Austin, practically snarling. "I honestly hope you make it to the finals; if only so I can see the look on your face when I'm the one that's bested you."

Austin glared at him, unafraid. "Good luck to you, too," he said coolly.

"I won't be needing it, but thank you." Christopher shot him an amused smirk and then turned around, stalking away.

The second he was out of sight, Austin growled and kicked at the ground. "I _hate _that guy." He turned to Kenzie. "You should break his nose again," he said flatly.

"I'm very tempted to," she admitted. "But this is your battle," she reminded him, raising an eyebrow.

He grimaced. "I guess…" he mumbled.

Ally blew out a hard sigh and shook her head. "Come on," she murmured. "Let's just… let's go join the others. They're probably wondering what's taking us so long."

"Whatever," he said, sounding sullen.

Ally stared at him for a moment. "Are you going to sulk for the rest of the tournament?"

"Is Christopher gonna be a massive douchenozzle for the rest of his life?" he asked bluntly.

"Okay, you're grumpy, you're nervous about the tournament, and Christopher sucks. I get it." Austin deflated, looking mildly embarrassed. She sighed sympathetically. "Let's get you something to eat, alright? You always feel better after a bit of food. Besides, you can't enter the tournament on an empty stomach, so come on."

As Ally led Austin away from the tournament board, rambling nonstop about breakfast, the tournament, and whatever else, Kenzie followed behind and watched silently, an amused smile playing at her lips.

* * *

As Austin, Ally, and Kenzie made their way to their friends' picnic table, Charlie gave a sigh of immense relief. "Oh, thank God. I thought I'd be forced to watch Dez demonstrate another 'trick' he's learned."

"Hey, juggling is a skillful art, you know."

Charlie took a deep, calming breath that did not work to keep him calm. "When you throw the balls into the air, you're intended to _catch_ them."

Dez crossed his arms. "Yeah, well, I never got that far in the lessons with the street performer, okay?" he said, sounding defensive.

Charlie turned to Trish. "How? How do you deal with this complete twit?"

Trish gave him a wry look. "Try to tune it out, it eventually becomes static. Although sometimes the occasional stupid comment still filters through."

Austin plopped down at the picnic table with a heavy _thump_ and grunted a greeting before savagely tearing into his scotch egg.

Charlie raised an eyebrow while Dez and Trish looked at him worryingly. He turned to Kenzie as she and Ally took their seats much more gracefully. "Oi, what's gotten into him?"

Kenzie pursed her lips briefly. "We had a run-in with Christopher. It was not pleasant."

Charlie tensed and looked at the sullen teen before turning back to Kenzie. "Everythin' okay?"

"Fantastic," Austin mumbled. "He insulted me—multiple times—and he hit on Ally. He only backed down because Kenzie was about two seconds away from breaking his nose."

The other three whirled around to look at Kenzie expectantly, faces starting to light up. She quickly dashed their hopes by holding up a hand, saying, "Didn't happen, guys."

Charlie patted her on the shoulder, almost sympathetically. "I'm sure he'll give you a reason soon enough, Kenz."

She smiled wryly. "Here's to hoping."

Trish looked across the table to her best friend. "Ally, what did Christopher say? You're okay, right?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," Ally said shortly. But she wasn't looking at Trish, she was staring into her lap, fiddling with her hands.

Austin paused from eating his food, immediately knowing that something was wrong. He reached down and placed a gentle hand over the both of hers, stopping her from picking at her fingers. Startled, she snapped her gaze up to meet his. "Hey," he murmured, his eyes softening as he looked at her. "Did Christopher get to you?" he asked, studying her intently.

"I'm _fine_," she repeated, sounding far from it. He gave her a look that clearly said she wasn't fooling anybody and she slumped under his gaze. "Look, Austin, I am, okay? I'm alright, I promise. It's just… if I never see Christopher ever again, it'll be too soon," she muttered tiredly.

He gave a short and understanding nod. "Agreed," he sighed.

"You better win this, Austin." She freed her hands to poke him in the chest, glaring heatedly. "I wanna see you wipe that smug look off his—his dumb… jerk… face," she finished lamely, having lost some of her steam.

He looked at her, bemused. "That's as mean as you get, isn't it?" he asked, a teasing and affectionate lilt to his words. When she stared at him huffily, he laughed.

Trish snickered. "Ally, you might wanna leave the trash talking to me or Austin. Hell, maybe even Dez."

Dez nodded pityingly. "You just stick to being adorable."

Ally rolled her eyes but as Austin laughed good-naturedly, she felt herself relaxing, glad that Austin was sulking less now that he was with his friends. She was pulled out her thoughts when he nudged her shoulder with his. "It's okay, I think he's got a dumb jerk face, too," he said with a grin.

She bit her lip to keep from smiling back at him. "Are you making fun of my insults?"

"Maybe," he said, his eyes lighting up with amusement.

"Just finish your food, Austin, you're going to need your strength for the first match," she said, shaking her head.

He saluted her, still grinning. "Aye, aye, capt'n."

* * *

Austin quickly realized that trying to keep his cool for a_ training_ match was vastly different than trying to keep his cool for a _tournament _match.

For starters, if he lost, there would be no second chance, no Kenzie to help coach him through; he'd be done and it'd be over. And Christopher would rub it all over his face while simultaneously trying to mack on Ally or something.

Great, now on top of his nerves, he was feeling a sudden urge to vomit as his mind was assaulted with that horrible mental image.

So minutes away from his first match of the day, he was feeling overwhelmed, despite his support group talking to him before they would have to take their seats. Kenzie was doing some last minute coaching while Charlie had wanted to stay on the field to make sure Austin's armor was in place. Ally had decided to follow to give Austin one last wish of good luck, letting Dez and Trish grab a place in the stands to hold their spots. Plus, the vantage point from the stands made for some pretty cool shots, according to Dez.

"Austin, are you ready?" Kenzie asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "He better be; he's already on the bloody horse."

Austin swallowed nervously and stared straight ahead. "How much longer do I have until the match starts?"

"About two minutes," Ally said, glancing at the clock counting down until the next match.

"Oh, great. I guess I can just chill up here, right?" he asked, breathlessly.

"You kinda have to. Because, _again_, you're already on the bloody horse."

"Charlie! You are not helping to calm his nerves," Kenzie hissed. Charlie rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in surrender before letting the girls step in.

"Oh, God," Austin mumbled, holding a hand to his stomach. "Maybe that turkey leg was a bad idea…"

"Austin. Austin, look at me," Kenzie ordered. The blond turned to her with wide eyes. "You are going to do great. You were amazing this morning, remember? Knocked me off my horse and everything! And trust me when I say that I am much scarier than half the contestants. Seriously, Derby won't be much different than your dummies. You've practically got your first match handed to you."

"I'm trying really hard to remember all that, but right now, I'm not even sure which hand I should hold my lance in," he muttered, looking down at the lance in his right hand. His brow furrowed and he went to shift it over to his left hand when Ally placed her own hand over his to stop him from making the transfer. He looked at her, perplexed. "What?"

"Austin," she started slowly, "You're right handed, remember?"

"Oh." He didn't sound entirely convinced but kept the lance in his right hand, anyway. Besides, he could trust Ally, he has always trusted Ally, and she knew him better than he knew himself. Okay, so thinking about Ally sort of helped to calm his nerves.

Kenzie face palmed and stepped aside, pushing Ally forward a little. "Please do something before he loses his mind." She grimaced. "Or his lunch."

Ally licked her lips nervously and took a deep breath before speaking, hoping to get through to her best friend. "Austin?" He turned to look at her and she wasn't entirely sure why, but he seemed to have just relaxed simply from staring at her. "Hey, you can do this. I know you can." He frowned at her, still uncertain. She reached up to grab his forearm. His eyes flickered to her hand and then back to her face, locking gazes with her. "You made me a promise, remember? That'll you'll do this and that you'll be okay?" she whispered. "And you've never broken a promise to me before, right?"

"Right," he whispered back and she could see some of the fear leave his eyes. She felt relief flooding her as her words started to sink in, calming him.

"You wanted to win, too," she said, smiling encouragingly at him. "And you will, I know you will," she said, so certainly that Austin found himself blinking in surprise from her conviction. "So just… breathe and go for it, okay?"

The bell signaling the jousters to get into position sounded, snapping Austin out of his stupor.

"Austin?" Ally called, worried.

He shook his head and looked down at her, realizing that he couldn't let her down, not now, not ever. So as she stared up at him, concern shining in her big brown eyes, he knew he wanted nothing more than to ease her worries because that was far more important than focusing on his own. "Hey, you're right. You're always right," he chuckled, his breathing finally returning to normal. "I've got this." He gave her a meaningful look. "I won't let you down, Ally."

She blinked for a second, surprised by his sudden change in demeanor but then beamed at him. "Go get 'em, tiger," she said as she took a step back from Austin and Al.

Austin winked at her—and grinned when he saw her blush—and then rode off to his starting point while the other three hurried back to the stands to watch the match. Dez had been filming the entire time and Trish slid over to make room for them.

"So? How was he?" Trish asked. "Was he okay?

"It's too bad Christopher didn't challenge him to a singing or dancing competition instead," Charlie said, tonelessly.

Trish furrowed her brow. "Meaning what?"

"Meaning he couldn't even remember which hand to hold his lance in," Kenzie sighed.

Trish and Dez whipped their heads around to look at Ally, identical worried expressions in place. She waved them off and kept her eyes trained on Austin in the field. "He's going to be awesome, just watch." She bit her bottom lip anxiously, waiting for the first pass to start.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Ally, he forgot—"

"SHH!" she shushed in an obscenely loud voice, smacking him in the arm repeatedly. Charlie looked at her, mildly offended, before scooting away. "It's starting!" She leaned on the edge of her seat as the announcer's voice filtered through the speakers.

"_Sir Moon and Sir Derby, at the sound of the whistle, you may start your first pass._"

Austin focused on his breathing to keep from tensing up as he waited for the first whistle. He let his mind wander back to Ally and everything that she had said to him since this whole thing started. He blew out a hard sigh and knew that since she was watching, he couldn't afford to mess this up.

The whistle blew and Austin's eyes narrowed on his target as they galloped toward each other. The second he was in the clear, he started to lower his lance and either he was moving too fast or Derby was just too slow, but he struck first, breaking his lance and earning five points.

As Al circled back around to the starting point for the second pass, Austin felt an immense wave of relief wash over him. Ally was right; he _could _do this.

He rolled back his shoulders and smirked, more than ready for the rest of the match.

Hell, he was ready for the rest of the tournament.

* * *

Austin jumped off Al, handing the reins over to one of the volunteers that would lead him back to the stables to rest in between his matches. Austin gave him an affectionate pat before turning away, hearing his friends' cheering as they ran through the crowd to meet him. He faced them, grinning broadly.

"Austin, that was amazing!" Kenzie hollered, radiating with pride. "You realize your score was 25-0?!" She smirked at him. "Told you Derby was a complete ponce; saw him crying on my way down."

Austin winced a little at that. "Yeah. I, uh, wasn't expecting my first match to be _that _easy." He rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish.

"Hey, think of it as more practice." She smiled at him. "Think you can handle the rest of the tournament now?"

Austin nodded. "Definitely," he grinned.

"And you think you can handle holdin' a lance?" Charlie asked pointedly.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, so maybe that wasn't a high point, but I'm moving on to the next round, aren't I?"

Charlie snorted and clapped him on the back. "You did good, mate," he said, affection coloring his voice.

"Thanks," Austin chuckled. He turned to his best friends and grinned. "Not bad for my first match, right?"

"So you knocked a dude off a horse and managed to stay on yours. Whatever." Trish raised an eyebrow. "I'll be impressed when you win the whole thing." Austin laughed, knowing that that was her way of telling him she wanted him to win and that he had better. "No, but seriously, I don't like it when my clients lose."

He looked at her, confused. "You don't manage me as a jouster," he reminded her.

"Yeah, but nobody likes a loser," she scoffed. Austin shrugged as if conceding to her point.

Dez grinned, excited as he gestured to his camera. "Dude, this is going to be the coolest jousting documentary ever!" He paused briefly, as if considering something. "Hey, you and Ally should write a medieval-themed song! I'd have a bunch of stuff for a music video! How awesome would that be, right? Am I right?" he asked, trying to make it sound as enticing as possible as he nodded with a goofy, open mouthed grin.

Austin and Ally immediately vetoed that idea with rigorous shakes of their heads.

"Nooo."

"Not a good idea, buddy."

Dez sighed and threw his head back in aggravation. "How come nobody understands my _vision?_" he muttered, shaking a dramatic fist.

Austin rolled his eyes and finally made his way to Ally, who had been shying away from the group to let them congratulate Austin on his win first. He came to a stop in front of her and she started to grin at him, her eyes lighting with pride. She opened her mouth to say something but then her eyes lost their glimmer and her mouth snapped shut.

Austin's own smile faltered. "Ally? What's—?" He froze when he heard the slow clap coming from somewhere over his shoulder and he immediately knew who it was.

"Wow, congratulations, Austin. You weren't nearly as embarrassing as I thought you would be."

He turned around and sure enough, Christopher was walking toward the group, wearing a sardonic smile as he continued his condescending slow clap.

"Of course, the first match was practically handed to you since Derby's the most pathetic person I've ever had the misfortune to watch play."

Austin's cheeks burned, embarrassed because Kenzie had said the same thing and he knew that Derby hadn't been much of a challenge. But still, it stung hearing the words leave Christopher's mouth. "It got me to the next round, didn't it?" he said, staring at him pointedly. "And in the end, as long as it's me and you in the finals, who cares, right?"

Christopher chuckled. "I suppose. But in case you haven't realized, your next opponent won't be nearly as incompetent as Derby." Sensing the apprehension from his vague comment, he turned to Kenzie and Charlie, smirking widely. "Kenzie, I'm sure you remember Griffin, right?"

Austin immediately turned to face them, watching their reactions. Charlie's jaw clenched from the mention of the name and Kenzie's lips thinned, settling into a grim line. He felt a sense of dread fill him as he tried to figure out their past history with this 'Griffin'.

With a cruel laugh, he turned back to Austin. "Your first match was a fluke and this next one will put you in your place," he said before turning around and walking away.

Austin turned to the Brits and frowned. "Okay, who the hell is Griffin?"

"Gabriel Griffin," Kenzie muttered. She swallowed nervously and said, "Austin… he's not going to be easy."

His brow furrowed. "Well, it's not like I figured all of them were go—"

"He's the one that dislocated Kenzie's shoulder," Charlie cut in gruffly.

A cold silence fell over the group, Charlie's words sinking in.

Beside him, he heard Ally's small gasp and he froze. He chanced a glance at her and she had paled considerably, upset that something horrible had happened to Kenzie and that it may happen to Austin.

"Look, Austin, he isn't impossible to beat, alright? He did lose to Christopher last year in the finals, after all," she said quickly, hoping to reassure him some. "I'm just… I'm warning you to be careful. He's definitely a formidable opponent."

Austin swallowed nervously but tried to keep up a brave front, for Ally's sake. He knew hearing that piece of information had deeply unsettled her and he was going to try to soothe her nerves by convincing her he'll be fine. And to do that, he would have to _appear_ fine.

Summoning the confidence from somewhere, he looked Kenzie dead in the eye. "I'm not scared," he said, relieved his voice hadn't wavered. His eyes flickered to Ally and then back to Kenzie. "Because I'm not losing to him." His gaze landed on Ally and he held it there, waiting for her reaction. Soon enough, she was grinning fiercely, her eyes sparking back to life like how they looked after he'd won his first match.

Whenever she would look at him like that, he really felt like he could do anything.

* * *

Austin had decided it would be best for him to sit and watch as much of the tournament as possible, hoping to learn more through observing all the different jousters. Besides, what else was he going to do with the time before his next match?

Ally had lamented the fact that she'd left behind her notebooks and pens and he had stared at her, incredulous that she would have made him take notes.

Well, alright, maybe he wasn't all that incredulous considering it was a very 'Ally' thing of her to do, but still.

Throughout the hour, Austin and Ally stayed the whole duration while the others alternated between watching and taking a break. Dez and Trish would explore and enjoy the Renaissance Faire's last day while Charlie and Kenzie would make continuous trips to the warehouse to supply the tournament with more lances or the other contestants would call Charlie for help with their armor.

At one point, Austin had felt guilty that Ally was spending all her time watching the tournament with him so he suggested she leave and take a break if she was bored. She'd shaken her head, refusing to leave his side. So he stopped trying to convince her to leave with the others and just let himself enjoy her company, grateful for her support as well.

After a while, she started asking questions and he tried to relay as much of the knowledge he'd learned from Kenzie as possible, answering as many of her questions as he could. He appreciated her interest even if it had been born out of boredom, always happy to talk to her no matter the subject at hand. More than once, he had ended up surprising himself with the information he'd retained from the weekend.

Charlie and Kenzie eventually wandered back to their spot in the stands some time before Austin's second match.

"C'mon, let's get you in that armor," Charlie said with a click of his tongue and jerk of his thumb.

Ally frowned. "Have you seen Trish and Dez?" she asked. "They've been gone a while…"

"Yeah, ran into them as we were leaving the warehouse but don't worry, they said they'll be here at one when Austin's match starts."

Austin nodded and moved to get up when the announcer's voice filtered through and Kenzie and Charlie froze, turning around to face the battlefield.

"Wait," Kenzie said, frowning as she squinted her eyes to the players on the field. "Austin… this is Christopher's match for round two." She turned to Charlie. "He should stay and watch. Do you think he'll have time to get into his armor?"

Charlie took a look at the clock and saw that it was only 12:40. "I reckon it may be a close call, but we might make it in time," he said carefully. "Well, most of these matches are over before the ten minute time limit anyway."

"I think it's important for you watch this," Kenzie said.

Austin didn't get a chance to verbalize his agreement because the whistle was already blowing and he was on the edge of his seat, eyes flicking back and forth between the riders as they galloped toward each other. With startling accuracy, one jouster struck the other in the shoulder and knocked him off his horse, earning ten points during the first pass.

With a flinch—because that looked like it hurt—he turned to Kenzie and intoned, "Let me guess, that was Christopher scoring the ten points?"

She nodded. "As much as I hate to admit it, he's very good; probably what leads him to believe why he can be so cocky," she said with a roll of her eyes.

The riders went back to their starting positions and Christopher unhorsed his opponent a second time. Austin blew out a hard breath as he watched the other jouster hit the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ally flinch and give a small sigh of relief when he got up, unharmed.

The third pass, the other player scored one measly point. And then during the fourth pass, Christopher broke his lance and scored five points, bringing the final score to 25-1. The crowd let out a near deafening roar when Christopher took off his helmet and waved triumphantly, a winning smile on his handsome features.

It made Austin sick to his stomach to watch. "Well," he muttered, "that was brutal."

Kenzie nodded grimly. "Yeah."

"He was toying with the other guy, wasn't he? He gave him that free point for fun because he knew he was going to win."

Kenzie nodded again. "Yeah," she repeated, quieter that time.

Ally whipped her head to Austin, astonished. "How could you tell?"

"During the first two passes, he always lowered his lance right on time—as soon as he passed those markers—but for that third pass, he waited a lot longer and didn't even line up the lance correctly," Austin answered.

"Look, Christopher's not your problem right now, Griffin's your next opponent," Charlie said, not unkindly. "So c'mon, let's get you into your armor."

Austin got up and followed obediently behind Charlie and Kenzie. The group soberly made their way down the stands because if Austin's next opponent wasn't worrisome enough, watching Christopher's recent match definitely did the trick.

Once they hit the sidelines, they made the unfortunate mistake of running into Christopher just as he was handing over the reins of his horse to a crew member. He noticed Charlie and immediately gave him a disdainful look. "Oh, you're here now. Brilliant." Charlie's eyes narrowed and he moved to take a step forward when Kenzie placed a hand on his chest to stop him. Christopher noticed and gave a bark of laughter before making a whipping gesture accompanied by a sound effect.

Identical looks of offense crossed their faces and they both took a step forward, only to have Austin hold out a hand to stop them. "It's not worth it," he whispered.

Charlie sneered. "I can't say I ag—"

"No, no," Kenzie murmured, "He's right. Besides, this year, this is between Christopher and him, we shouldn't get in the way."

"_Fine_," Charlie bit out, taking a step back and crossing his arms. Kenzie placed a soothing hand on his arm and he seemed to relax, if only slightly.

Christopher snorted derisively before turning his attention to Austin. "Well, you must have seen that match, correct? What did think?" he asked, smug grin in place. "Hope you learned a thing or two."

"Not bad," Austin admitted with reluctance. He crossed his arms. "But if you're trying to intimidate me, it's not going to work," he said, scowling.

"You're still not intimidated?" He raised an eyebrow and chuckled humorlessly. "Really, thank you for the constant reminders of your foolishness."

"You're welcome," Austin said, smiling sardonically.

Christopher turned to Ally and gave a mock bow. "My lady, I hope you enjoyed watching my match."

"It was alright," Ally replied in a bored manner, reflexively taking a step closer to Austin as she stared Christopher down.

Austin had to hold back a laugh as he saw Christopher's jaw clench in irritation. Barely a second later, it was replaced with a charming smile. "So it takes a lot more to impress you, that's fine," he said, quite suavely considering his obvious annoyance that Ally was not giving in as easily as he wanted.

"Yeah, like an entire personality change," Ally muttered under her breath.

Austin shot her an amused look before turning back to Christopher. "Well, Christopher, as always, talking to you has been like going to the dentist, so if you don't mind, I gotta go suit up for my next match."

Christopher rolled his eyes and waved them off dismissively. "Go on then, I'll be laughing from the sidelines," he said with a pleasant smile.

As he walked away, Austin's eyes narrowed and he said, "Man, that guy _really_ fuels my hate-fury."

Kenzie smirked. "Good, hold onto that, you may need it against Griffin."

* * *

"Holy shit, _that's_ Griffin?" Austin yelped, his jaw dropping in shock. He came to a halt, making the others stop behind him.

Off in the distance, he saw a much larger, beefier man in a suit of armor. His size was alarming enough but the fact that his features seemed to be permanently set in angry scowl didn't help either.

"Yep, that's him," Kenzie confirmed with a flinch.

He whirled around and glared at her. "Why didn't you tell me I was going up against the freakin' _Hulk?_" he demanded.

She had the decency to look sheepish. "Um, I didn't want to worry you?"

Austin groaned. "Oh man, I'm not going to live to see eighteen, am I?" he muttered, closing his eyes.

Ally popped up around him, trying to get a better look. "Austin, come on, he can't be—oh my _God_, he's like the Incredible Hulk, except wrapped in tinfoil!" she cried, gaping openly.

He shot her a sardonic look. "Gee, Ally, I wonder who just said that?"

"Oh, right. Sorry," she said, looking embarrassed.

Austin rolled his eyes. "Okay, I can either stand here and throw up that turkey leg I had earlier or suck it up and go." The other three all raised an eyebrow. "What?" he said with a frown. "Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"This, coming from the guy that nearly went mad this morning?" Charlie asked, surprised. "I thought you were going to wet yourself during your first match."

Austin stared at him flatly. "Yeah, well, right now, I'm still too pissed at Christopher to be scared. That's probably gonna change with the match starts, but whatever."

Kenzie's eyes widened. "Don't get scared!" she blurted. "Stay mad at Christopher! If you get scared or freeze up while you're out there against Griffin, you will most likely die." She placed her hands on his shoulders. "Nobody wants that," she deadpanned before removing her hands.

"Except maybe Christopher," Charlie said sarcastically.

"Yes, but we are firmly in the camp of not giving Christopher what he wants," Kenzie said.

Austin made a noise of immense displeasure and then turned to Ally. "If something happens to me, you're making the phone call to my parents and Jimmy."

"Really?" Ally raised an eyebrow. "Those are, potentially, the last words you want to say to me?" she asked, miffed.

Well, he didn't exactly have time for a romantic overture or a loving speech, so that would have to make do. Besides, he was really hoping he'd get a chance to say more words to her once everything was done and over with. Hopefully of the aforementioned 'romantic' variety. Or maybe he'd just start with how much he's always loved her adorable little nose—thus all the nose booping over the years—and then work his way up to the romance thing.

Baby steps, right?

"That, and my password for everything is 'pazzword', with two 'z's."

Ally stared at him for a beat. "… Of course it is," she said, tonelessly.

Austin let out a long sigh and then squared his shoulders, prepared to make his way down the rest of the field. "Well, let's get this over with," he muttered, walking past them and toward his horse.

Once he made the short distance to Al, he heard Ally calling his name before he reached the saddle. He turned around, curious. "Ally?"

She skidded to a stop in front of him, looking nervous. "I just… I wanted to wish you good luck."

He laughed, idly wondering how many times she'd have to do that before she was satisfied. "Haven't you already wis—?"

She stood on her tip toes and planted a gentle kiss on his cheek. She pulled away after two or three seconds, smiling a little. "Yeah, but not like that," she said, blushing faintly.

Austin stared at her, wide-eyed. He gulped and managed to croak out, "It's nice. You should, uh, you should wish me luck like that more often." He turned red, himself. "You know… if you want to," he mumbled, averting her gaze.

Her eyes widened for a split second, surprised by his suggestion, before she grinned broadly at him. "I'll keep that in mind."

He perked up and returned her grin. Then he leaned down and brushed his nose against hers in a quick Eskimo kiss. She blinked rapidly from the sudden gesture and he turned to whisper in her ear, "You know… I've always thought you had the cutest nose." He pulled away, holding back a laugh at her bewildered stare and beet red cheeks.

"Wha…?"

He chuckled to himself and got up on Al, feeling immensely proud of himself 'cause, well, baby steps.

* * *

"Ally?" Kenzie's voice filtered through her hazy confusion and the younger girl whirled around, still red-faced and staring openly.

"What?"

The older girl's lips twitched with amusement and then she jerked a thumb toward the stands. "The match's about to start. We should head up to our seats."

"Um, okay," Ally mumbled, and she quickly walked past them, still confused and embarrassed thanks to Austin's actions. She hurried past Charlie—and ignored his entertained smirk—and rushed up the steps until she saw Trish and Dez and took her seat.

Trish snickered and nudged her. "You two looked pretty cozy down there. What happened?"

"I… don't know," Ally admitted. She replayed the previous events and then shook her head, smiling faintly. "But I'm definitely not complaining."

Dez leaned over and offered her his camera. "Oh, hey, I can just play it all back on my—"

"Dez!" Ally face palmed. "Oh my God, you caught all that on camera?" she asked, mortified.

"Well, yeah. You two are adorable." He stared down at the screen and frowned. "But the angle isn't the best… think you guys could do a repeat after the match?"

He was promptly ignored.

Trish turned serious and looked out on to the field. "So… that's Griffin, huh?" Ally nodded solemnly. "That guy's, like, twice Austin's size." She sounded worried.

Ally focused her attention on the smaller jouster. "He'll be okay. I know it," she muttered fiercely.

Trish shot her an apprehensive look, but didn't say anything else.

Kenzie and Charlie joined them just as the whistle blew for the first pass.

It did not go well. Griffin scored the first five points even though Austin had twisted his body as much as he could in a desperate attempt to keep the lance from breaking once it struck him in the shoulder.

Ally's stomach lurched but at least he hadn't fallen off the horse, even though that hit had looked brutal. And sure enough, Austin was rotating his shoulder the second his horse had circled back to the starting point.

Just three more passes, then she could breathe easy again.

Austin was rewarded five points the second pass and she felt a sense of relief wash over her as her friends dulled her senses with their roars of triumph all around her. She wondered if maybe Griffin's size was a bit of an advantage for opposing jousters, since he made for a wider target and if he was moving fast enough, he'd break the lace himself without Austin having to do much work. So maybe, when it came down to it, all Austin needed was speed.

She frowned and turned to Kenzie. "Hey, Kenzie? Can I ask how you dislocated your shoulder during your match against Griffin?" she asked. Kenzie turned to her, surprised, and Ally quickly backpedaled. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry, you don't have—"

"No, no. It's fine," Kenzie said, waving her off with a melancholic smile. "I misjudged the distance," she said slowly. "Griffin's a much bigger man so I assumed he'd be a slow rider, but he wasn't nearly as slow as I had been anticipating. He surprised me and struck first." She sighed and shook her head. "The hit was brutal enough as I was falling but then I landed on it and dislocated it."

Ally frowned. "So if it hadn't been for that, do you think you could have beat him?"

"Probably," she whispered. "Griffin hits incredibly hard, enough to knock you off your horse, but if you're fast enough to strike first, then things can be pretty evenly matched." She worried her lip as the players prepared for the third pass. "I'm just hoping Austin's figured that out by now."

* * *

Holy hell, did his shoulder hurt. He winced and tried to focus for the third pass. He'd managed to score five points previously so at least now they were tied. But when the whistle blew for the third time, Griffin must have been pissed because he shot forward like a bat straight out of hell.

Austin followed suit, urging Al to move a little faster, and lowered his lance accordingly, muttering a desperate prayer that he was fast enough to strike first. To his frustration, Griffin's initial burst of speed seemed to have given him the advantage because he made contact first. Austin hissed as pain spread throughout his entire shoulder. It took everything in him to keep from dropping his lance and grabbing at his shoulder. Miraculously, the lance didn't break so the score was only 6-5, in Griffin's favor.

Now it was down to the final pass. Maybe if he at least managed a tie, they could go for a fifth pass or something. He groaned, irritated at the prospect of losing this early on in the tournament. Especially since his first match hadn't even been taken seriously by anyone.

He breathed in and exhaled slowly, his muscles tensing as he waited for the whistle to blow again. He tried to distract himself from the pain in his shoulder by waiting for the whistle.

The second it blew, Al kicked off hard, galloping with all of his might and Austin felt a sense of pride for his horse before focusing ahead on his quickly approaching opponent. He lowered his lance and as he neared Griffin, he thrust his lance forward while simultaneously twisting his shoulder away to avoid being hit in case he hadn't been fast enough. When he felt his lance connecting with Griffin's shoulder, he nearly shouted, overjoyed, that he'd resulted in a tie—and then his lance _splintered and broke_, meaning he had just won the entire match by four points.

He tore off his helmet and looked at the scoreboard in disbelief. They were flashing his name as the current winner. He gave a small, incredulous laugh and rode back to the sidelines, getting off Al in a daze. Excitedly, he kissed the horse to thank him and grinned when Al made affectionate nickering noises.

"I think I owe that win to you, man," he muttered. "You were amazing that last pass." He petted him lovingly before handing him over to a volunteer.

He barely finished his good-bye with Al when he was nearly tackled to the ground by the force of his friends. "Holy sh—!"

"You did it! You did it!" they screeched into his ear, giddy that their friend was still alive.

He laughed and would have wrapped his arms around them had they not been pinned down to his sides. "Yeah, okay, okay!" he said, shaking his head. "How about some air here?"

They released him and looked down at the tiny face still nuzzling close to his chest plate. His features softened and he wrapped his arms around Ally's slender form. "Looks like you won't be making those phone calls after all, huh?" he murmured into her hair.

She broke away far enough to look up at him, her eyes lighting up as a broad smile crossed her lips. "You were amazing!" she breathed. "You rode so well and you moved so fast, oh my gosh."

He gave her a lopsided smile. "Thanks, Ally."

"You're advancing to the next round!" she cried happily. "I can't believe it!"

"Honestly? Neither can I," he said with a small scoff of laughter as he continued to hold her.

"You're a lucky bastard, Austin Moon," a voice drawled. "I thought for sure Griffin would have knocked you from the tournament."

Austin looked up and frowned as he saw Christopher's sneering face. "What? You're not here to congratulate me on my win?" he asked sarcastically. He tried to remain cool as his grip on Ally tightened protectively.

"That must be some good luck charm you've got there," he muttered, his dark eyes flicking to Ally and then back to Austin.

Austin's eyes narrowed and he pulled apart from Ally to push her behind him. "Okay, are you done here?" He raised an eyebrow. "Or are you going to keep telling me that the only reason why I made it this far has been pure luck?"

He glowered at Austin before crossing his arms. "Well, as long as you're fully aware," he snapped.

Austin rolled his eyes. "Dude, I learned how to joust in less than twenty-four hours; the fact that I haven't broken anything yet is a miracle, alright?"

"And you really believe that you'll make it all the way to the finals? And then beat me, thus winning the whole tournament?"

Austin shrugged, nonplussed. "I've accomplished crazier things," he said in a vague sort of way.

He raised an eyebrow. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," he muttered. But then he shook his head. "No matter, I suppose; I refuse to let this crack team foil my every plan."

Austin wrinkled his nose. "Your plan is way convoluted, dude. This whole jousting thing just to, what, win a dance with a cute girl tonight? She isn't even interested." He turned to Ally. "Hey, Ally, you interested?"

"Nope!" she said with a shake of her head.

He turned back to Christopher. "See? Not interested." He raised an eyebrow. "So why don't we just call a truce and have fun for the rest of the tournament?" Offering his hand, he concluded with, "C'mon, what do you say?"

Christopher pulled a face and knocked Austin's hand away. "Are you trying to humiliate me?" he growled. "I will not be made a fool!"

Austin stared at his hand and withdrew it, staring down Christopher with a frown. "Hey. I was just trying to—"

"Keep your pleasantries," Christopher barked. "I issued you a _challenge_, Austin, and I am not about to back down from my word."

"Yeah, well, that's real freakin' noble of you—"

"But if you're too afraid—"

"Whoa, hey!" Austin sputtered, his eyes flashing. "Who said I was afraid?"

"—to continue this challenge, then have the decency to forfeit and declare me the rightful winner instead of calling some sort of juvenile _truce_," Christopher spat.

"Okay, fine, you don't want a truce, I get it," Austin said, glaring at him. "I take it back; I'm going to make it to the final round and I'm going wipe that goddamn smirk off your stupid jerk face," he growled.

For the first time, Christopher seemed impressed. "I almost believed that," he said as said smirk crossed his features. "Okay, fine. But if I win, Ally has to be by my side the entire evening and partake in as many dances as I please."

Austin frowned and signaled for a time out. "Hang on a minute." Christopher stared at him, bewildered, as Austin gently grabbed Ally by the elbow and led her out of Christopher's earshot. "Hey, I'm not going to agree to that if you're not okay with it."

Ally raised an eyebrow. "Do I have a choice?"

Austin shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you could bargain with him? Like just one dance or spend an hour with him?" He winced. "An entire evening seems… too far."

Ally sighed. "I agree," she admitted, worrying her bottom lip. Then she shook her head and looked at him expectantly. "Hey, don't be mad at me, okay?"

Austin blinked in confusion. "Wha—?"

But she had already turned around and was marching up toward Christopher, eyes blazing. "Alright, Christopher, we agree to your terms."

Their friends' eyes bulged out of their sockets as they continued to watch silently.

Austin ran up to her, sputtering. "Uh, no, we did not!"

She ignored him. "The _entire_ evening with you, if you win."

Christopher looked incredibly pleased. "Well, alright then," he said under his breath, practically leering at her.

Ally flushed but before she could say another word, Austin was in front of her, protecting her from Christopher's prying eyes. "Okay, that's enough looking, mister," he growled. He shot Ally an annoyed look over his shoulder. "I don't think you thought this through," he hissed.

"I trust you," she said simply. "I know you won't lose to him."

Austin grimaced. "And if I do?"

She took a shuddering breath. "Then I'll keep my eye out for wandering hands."

Austin's eyes flashed. "Hey, this is quickly veering into creeper territory; I think we should—"

"Austin. I'm betting on you, okay? Whether you like it or not, I'm doing this. So tell Christopher we both agree to his terms."

Austin frowned but at her stubborn look, he finally acquiesced. He turned back to his arch nemesis and growled irritably. "We… agree to your terms," he said, making a face as if it physically pained him to have uttered those words.

"Excellent," Christopher said with a low laugh, holding out his hand for Austin to shake. "And if you win, I'll leave immediately after the tournament, foregoing the entire celebration."

"_And _you have to lift Kenzie's tournament ban." He looked over to the older girl who looked surprised but grateful for the mention.

"Fine," he agreed, with a semi-reluctant sigh. "Any other terms?" he asked, sounding bored.

"No, that's it." Austin finally reached out and grasped Christopher's hand, sealing the deal with a firm shake.

Once the hand shake was over, Christopher smirked. "See you in the finals, Austin."

After he was out of sight, Austin's shoulders sagged and he cringed painfully. "Goddammit," he muttered, a hand flying up to the sore area.

Ally was immediately by his side, her hands hovering over his back and but too nervous to make contact. "Austin, are you okay?" she asked, looking at him with wide, worried eyes.

"I'm fine," he sighed. He cringed again as his shoulder throbbed and ached. "But I definitely need to put some ice on my shoulder."

"Why didn't you say anything when you finished the match?" she cried, upset that he'd been quiet about his injury.

He rolled his eyes. "Christopher sort of took my mind off it."

She worried her bottom lip as the others came closer to see why Austin was clutching his shoulder. "Do you think you'll be okay for the rest of the tournament?" She hesitated, knowing that he wouldn't like her next suggestion, but she said it out loud regardless, "Austin, do you think… maybe you should dro—?"

"_No_," he said vehemently. "I have an hour before my next match. I'll be fine," he said through gritted teeth. He looked at Ally. "There's no way I'm dropping out now. Not after he just upped the stakes on us," he said. He took a look at his friends and rolled his eyes, waving off his concern. "Just get me a bucket of ice and I'll be fine."

Kenzie frowned and pointed at Austin's shoulder. "Griffin dented the armor," she said, sounding amazed.

"I'm _fine_," Austin insisted.

Charlie crossed his arms and looked at him, unconvinced. "Yeah, we'll be the judge of that, mate," he snorted. He jerked his head, gesturing for Austin to move it.

Austin rolled his eyes but followed after them anyway. He could feel Ally's eyes burning into the back of his skull and he didn't want to chance a look, knowing that he wouldn't have been able to handle the worry in her eyes.

Once they reached the warehouse, Austin quickly changed out of his armor, wearing nothing but a pair of pants as he came down the stairs, where everyone was waiting for him.

Ally saw the mottled and dark bruising all around his shoulder and winced, but her eyes followed his every move as he hopped up on Charlie's work table and idly swung his legs back and forth. Before Kenzie or Charlie could make it over to him, he looked down at his shoulder and prodded at the dark spot with the fingers of his right hand, cringing. "Ow," he muttered.

Ally was by his side in an instant, snatching his fingers away. "If it hurts, don't poke at it!" she admonished. Her eyes softened as they trailed over his bruise, starting at his left shoulder and moving down slightly into his upper chest. She darted up to look him in the eye, swallowing nervously. "It looks pretty bad, Austin." Her words were quiet and he didn't miss the waver in her voice.

He shifted uncomfortably and shrugged with his good shoulder. "The pain's not unbearable or anything," he mumbled.

Charlie stepped up and Ally shifted to the side, letting him work. But she didn't let go of Austin's hand.

After a minute or so, Charlie said, "Well, nothing looks to be torn and you haven't gotten any nicks or cuts." He took a step back and ordered, "Lift your arm."

Austin slowly raised his hand, only stopping when he had it completely extended in the air. "I can move it just fine for the most part, but the pain comes back every now and then and it sucks to move."

Charlie nodded. "I suppose you're right, mate, some ice should be just fine. It just looks a lot worse than it actually is." He sighed and shook his head. "You were lucky Griffin didn't knock you off your horse," he muttered.

"I know," Austin said with a grim expression. "I almost fell off from the pain alone after that second hit," he admitted. "It's a miracle the lance didn't break on me from the sheer force."

Kenzie frowned and held up a first aid kit, pulling out some bandages. "We're bandaging you up, just in case."

He opened his mouth to protest but Ally's small hand squeezed his and he looked at her. She was silently pleading with him to agree so he sighed tiredly and nodded, sitting up straight so Charlie would have an easier time wrapping the bandages around his shoulder and chest. "Is that alright?" he asked.

Austin moved his arm a little and the bandages were constricting, but he nodded and said they were fine.

Kenzie turned to Austin and said, "I'll be right back with the ice," before exiting the warehouse. Charlie followed after her after a short nod at Austin.

Dez came up and pulled out his camera, saying, "Can I film some of your battle wounds?"

Austin chuckled and nodded. "Sure, Dez."

Dez started to pan up and down Austin's partially naked chest and said, "You know, I think the Austin Moon Fanclub is gonna love this."

Austin flushed and held up a hand to block the camera lens. "Okay, Dez, that's enough," he squeaked, embarrassed.

Dez pulled a face but shut off the camera.

Trish came up and Austin turned his hurt shoulder away from her suspiciously. She rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Austin sighed and relaxed, but then she reached up and flicked him in the forehead, hard. "Ow!" he whined, rubbing at his forehead with his free hand. "What was that for?"

"For being an idiot and getting hurt," she said bluntly. "There's the third round, the semi-finals, and then the actual finals. Think you can handle three more matches?"

"Trish, I know you're worried, but there's no fucking way I'm going to let Christopher win, alright?" he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

Trish's eyes darted to Ally and then back to him. "You better not. Ally's innocence is on the line here."

The song writing duo turned beet red and sputtered at her. "Thanks for the concern, Trish," Ally mumbled, palming her face. "And for the reminder," she added with a wince.

Austin turned to Ally and whispered her name to catch her attention. When she looked up at him, he reached out and gently cupped the side of her face. "Hey, you're not going to have to see him ever again after this tournament, okay? I _promise_ you that this will be the last of him, got it?"

Ally's breath hitched in her throat as she looked into his eyes, glittering darkly with his promise. She nodded once, not trusting her voice to stay steady and his thumb brushed over her cheek.

"I don't want to see him come near you ever again," he muttered.

Ally swallowed and flushed, but continued their staring match, unable to look away.

And then Trish cleared her throat and said, "Dude, I'm _right here_. Get a room, my God."

Austin coughed and tore his hand away and Ally dropped the hand she'd been holding and took a step back, running into the side of the table, squeaking in surprise. Austin stared at her, concerned, but she quickly waved him off and gestured far behind her. "I'm—there's—I'm gonna go breathe," she said, still a little winded from their intense moment.

He raised an eyebrow. "Breathe?" he repeated, confused.

Ally nodded, turning bright red. "Yeah, where there's air? I'm gonna—I'm gonna go."

"Ally," Austin chuckled, "There's air everywhere."

Even more flustered, she stammered out, "Yeah, but you know, outside air—that's, that's the best air and—" she broke off, pressing her hands to her face as she ran out of the warehouse.

Austin stared after her, amused, as he leaned back on the table with his good arm and swung his legs back and forth.

"Man, you two are giving me excellent material this weekend!" Dez grinned as he stared at Austin through the camera screen.

Austin whipped his head back to Dez and his camera, eyes narrowing. "Dez…" he growled.

"Uh-oh," Dez muttered as Austin's face started to approach without use of the zoom.

* * *

While Ally was still worried about his injury, she respected his wanting to go through with the rest of the tournament. She had tried to keep from hovering over him constantly but with every mild wince or cringe, she had magically appeared by his side, firing question after question about his shoulder.

He'd been exasperated but touched by her concern, indulging her enough to answer all of her questions patiently and to let fuss after him as she deemed fit.

(She wondered if maybe a part of him had enjoyed all the extra attention, judging from his barely suppressed smile most of the time.)

By the time the third match rolled around, Austin had claimed that the pain in his shoulder had dulled to the occasional ache but all of his friends—himself, included—were weary of him getting hit again, sure that another strike would just bring the pain back.

The match started off in a promising manner, with Austin managing to avoid getting hit during the first two passes. And yet, Ally couldn't help an ominous feeling from taking over. She worried her bottom lip and tried to maintain an optimistic attitude as she clapped after the second pass once Austin had scored five points, bringing his current score up to six.

The moment the third whistle blew, Ally felt the same sense of foreboding as she watched Austin coming toward his opponent. She tried to look away, but her eyes remained glued on his form, her lips moving in silent prayer that nothing would happen, that the sudden apprehension she was feeling was simply misplaced.

Her premonition seemed to be coming true, as the opponent's lance struck Austin first right in his shoulder where his injury was, but it didn't stop there. Austin dropped his lance and his body twisted, slumping to the side.

Ally held back a strangled scream, a hand flying to her mouth as she watched his body hit the ground, her heart stuttering to a stop in her chest. Dez's jaw dropped and his eyes flicked from the screen of his camcorder to the battlefield, as if he couldn't believe what he had just caught on camera. Trish gasped, exchanging similar looks of shock with Dez. Kenzie drew in a sharp breath and Charlie flinched visibly.

Austin wasn't getting up.

"Oh my God," Ally cried, her eyes welling up with unshed tears. She wasn't used to this. Every time he'd gotten knocked down, he'd been up a second later. She couldn't handle it, standing idly by as he continued to lay there, completely motionless. She choked back a sob and moved to rush forward. "Austin. _Austin!_"

Two strong arms circled around her slender waist and prevented her from running to her best friend. "Ally," a voice breathed into her ear, "You can't—"

"No. No, no, _no_," she whimpered as the medics came by to check on Austin, surrounding him in a circle. One of them pulled of his helmet and from her vantage point, he seemed to be unconscious. Her stomach lurched and she needed a better a look. She took another step forward but the arms around her tightened their grip. "I have to see him," she begged, eyes searching desperately for Austin's prone form as it disappeared from view. "Please. Please, just let me—"

He looked sympathetic but he shook his head, not that Ally even noticed because she was still watching the medics on scene with wide, frightened eyes. "You can't," he said, feeling guilty for having to hold her back. "We have to let the medics do their job. He has two minutes to get back on the horse or it's a forfeit." He swallowed and turned to Kenzie, who had paled the second the medics were called to the scene because Austin hadn't immediately gotten up.

Dez and Trish appeared shaken, but they stayed silent. Trish glanced at Ally worryingly while Dez looked back at the camera, focusing intently on the screen. His arms shook and he swallowed, trying to steady the shot.

"How long?" Charlie finally asked.

"Already long enough," Kenzie muttered with a hard swallow. She glanced at the clock. "But… about forty seconds."

Ally let out a sob and turned in Charlie's arms, burying her face into his chest with her eyes clenched shut. "Tell me when he's alright, okay?" she said, her voice wavering. "I—I can't look."

"Oi. Oi, Austin's gonna be fine," Charlie said, doing his best to soothe her. "Kid's real tough, yeah? C'mon, you think he's tough, don't cha?" She nodded wordlessly against his chest, inhaling shakily. "He's gonna get back up on that horse in no time, you'll see." With a hard swallow, he and Kenzie shared a worried glance over Ally's head. They knew it didn't look good. Not only was Austin possibly unconscious, but now the score was currently 6-10. To win the match, Austin _needed_ to break his lance or unhorse his opponent. But getting your equilibrium back in under two minutes after falling off a horse was not the easiest thing; let alone trying to win the last pass of the match. But right now, they were more focused on Austin and Ally's current states, not winning the tournament, so Charlie continued to murmur reassurances, more for the sake of the young girl than anything else.

_Fifty-seven seconds_, Kenzie mouthed silently to Charlie, turning back to watch the medics fussing over Austin. But then the medics were backing off and she squinted, trying to see in between the bodies to get a better look at Austin. Her eyes widened as she saw him getting up. "Charlie!"

Charlie whipped his head back to the front and zeroed in on Austin trying to push the medics off him as he slumped forward, wincing visibly. He rotated his shoulder a few times and nodded at one of the medics before getting up.

Dez practically cheered and he zoomed in on the scene, trying to get a clearer picture of Austin. "Yes!" he muttered to himself with a shake of his fist, grateful that his best friend was fine.

Charlie exhaled heavily, shoulders sagging as the tension left his body and relief settled in. He muttered, "Damn kid trying to give me a fuckin' heart attack," and Ally perked up, breaking away from Charlie's embrace.

She ran and pushed her way down the stands, stopping just before she was on the battlefield. "Austin! Austin!" she called from the sidelines.

He must have heard her because he instantly jerked his head up, whipping around to look up and down the sidelines. When he found her, he gave her a lopsided grin and a small wave to let her know he was okay.

Ally's heartbeat finally began slowing to a steady rhythm as she watched him stand up, jam the helmet onto his head, and then get back up on Al. "Oh, thank God," she murmured, holding a hand to her heart. Her eyes watched his movements like a hawk and she knew that if he fell off again for the remainder of the tournament, the medics would have to pry her off him with the jaws of life first.

Luckily, he ended up winning the match and advancing to the next round. But it was close, with the final score being 11-10.

* * *

Austin had barely taken a step out of the battlefield when a small body flung itself at him, familiar thin arms flying up around his neck. He grunted with surprise and dropped his helmet, but reached up to steady Ally by snaking an arm around her waist. "Hey," he murmured into her hair. He sounded tired, but after that last round and the scary fall, she couldn't blame him.

"I was afraid you weren't going to get up," she whispered. An emotional lump lodged itself in her throat and she swallowed it down. "You were taking so long to get up. But—but I couldn't get to you because of the medics and they were everywhere and, and—"

His other hand came up to cup the back of her neck, fingers threading through with her hair. "I'm sorry," he muttered, burying his nose into her hair. "I'm so sorry for scaring you like that."

She let out a ragged breath of air and laughed a little shakily, her nose bumping against the cool metal of his chest plate. "You got knocked off a horse and you're _apologizing?_" She sounded incredulous.

"Well, for scaring you, yeah." He chuckled a bit, starting to run his hand gently down her hair, over and over again to help soothe her. "I'm sorry, Ally. But I promise I'm alright. I'm here and I'm alright." He whispered more apologies and promises into her hair and she closed her eyes to fight off the tears threatening to spill as she inadvertently replayed his fall in her mind's eye.

God, she could practically sob in relief from having him awake and in her arms.

Before she could tell him how relieved she was to hear all that, a chorus of cheers and whoops sounded and they were quickly surrounded in an enormous group hug from their friends, while Kenzie and Charlie hung back.

Austin lifted his head and he glanced from face to face, grinning broadly at all of them. Their faces all held varying levels of relief. "Did I scare you guys?" he asked, a bit cheekily. The group hug ended and everyone gave Austin some space, Ally reluctantly letting go as well.

"Dude, so not cool," Dez said with an uncharacteristically somber shake of his head. Austin gave him a guilty smile in way of apology. Dez nodded and accepted it, initiating their classic handshake before pulling Austin into a brotherly hug.

Trish was up next. An eyebrow arched itself and she gave him an annoyed look. "Glad you got up; I was going to be pissed if one of my best clients got himself killed."

Austin bit back a weary grin. "I'm fine, Trish, thanks for asking." And then she exhaled loudly and gave him a quick hug. They parted and Austin shot a curious glance at the two older teens. "What? No 'I'm-glad-you're-not-riding-in-the-back-of-an-ambu lance' hug?"

"You complete git," Charlie scowled. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed Austin by the back of his neck and crushing him against his body in a tight hug, his other hand coming up to slap the younger teen on the back. Austin grunted but handled it as best he could. The hug lasted half a second before Charlie was already shoving him away. "Do not do that. Ever again."

Austin raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I'm definitely not planning on it…" Charlie frowned but let go of the scruff of his neck.

Kenzie came up to Austin and punched him in the shoulder. Before Austin could even react or yelp from the pain, she was hugging him. She pulled back, a wide and relieved smile on her face. "We're glad you're okay, Austin," she said, sounding a bit breathless. "But bloody hell, try not to do that again." She raised an eyebrow. "Or, at least, have the decency to get up faster next time."

He gave a small scoff of laughter. "Duly noted."

Trish smirked. "But some good news after that scare; you made it the semi-finals! If you win this next match, you'll be up against Christopher."

"Awesome!" Austin said. "The semi-finals," he breathed. And then, as the adrenaline started to wear off, a deep weariness settled into his bones. Frowning, he started to sway on the spot, the sight of his friends moving and spinning as his eyes glazed over.

He heard someone shouting his name repeatedly and he shook his head, trying to clear his fuzzy mind.

"Oh, fuck…" he muttered, before closing his eyes and passing out for the second time.


End file.
